Permit for a retention pond

They are really getting into deeper water regulation here. I build a duck pond and thought nothing of it. Now I realize I need a permit to keep it. I'm also realizing that to put a water retention pond of any sort I also need a permit. In fact they told me not to call my swales "swales" but trenches so I didn't have to permit them. Anyone else having this issue with permaculture? We have a large erosion problem on our property as we are the top and all the water drains off of our property. I was hoping to put some retention ponds at the fence line to try to keep it on my land. Now I can't without government interference. Discouraging!

Hello Danielle,

I am sorry for what can be a challenge in many areas. However, land ownership does not mean "water ownership" in most countries, and "water diversion or impoundment" has been heavily regulated for almost 4000 years in several cultures.

Water is such a vital resource, as you probably know and understand, that anything that affects its flow can have huge impacts to other biomes within a given areas "water cycle."

Be positive, be cooperative, and have clear plans for what you want to achieve and most of these agencies will really bring great help to you. Many of the folks that work for the geological and hydrological surveys of most states are wonderful folks to work with...

Good luck!

Alright. $50 and a bit of paperwork. Wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be to get a permit for some "wildlife" ponds. Funnily when I mentioned that I'd like to stop erosion I was told that was "industrial use" and that it would be easier just to claim they are wildlife ponds. I've got a lot of information from the corps of engineers on how to twist what my water features are called to prevent more regulation. I'm finding this whole thing to be amusing.

Danielle, I'd love to hear of some of the work-arounds you discovered

David Miller wrote:Danielle, I'd love to hear of some of the work-arounds you discovered

I haven't done a whole lot yet so I don't have too many twists to it. I'm not calling me swales "swales" but planting trenches. If I do that then I don't have to get a permit for them. Same for my infiltration basins. The retention pond/erosion control pond is going to be permitted as a wildlife pond or I will have to go through an industrial permitting process. Do NOT say erosion control unless you want the crap regulated out of you!!! I'm having to be mindful of depth as well. She said if a swale or basin goes lower than 1ft I'm risking the need to get a permit.

In keeping with the whole permit workaround feature, not sure if it should be in the pond or earthworks forum but it deals with both. Saw Geoff Lawton video of a permacuture farm in the midwest and instead of building ponds with dams, they "dug holes" where they wanted the water to be slowed/stored and it seemed to work for him, although it wasnt a pond in that it kept water all year round. I was think of instead of doing the traditional pond with dam, id just "dig a hole" on my property and if it fills up with water, fish, ducks, etc, well its just a happy accident i guess LOL. Has anyone had success with this approach over the traditional dam building option?

That's interesting. I guess I'd better stop referring to my "holding pond" on facebook and just talk about my clay pit instead.

very helpful, we have an invasive scotch broom in our farm field so my first thought was to dig a pond there. people have been warning me about the difficulty of getting permits but now i have some tricks up my sleeve. much thanks.