First off, I want to say thanks for all of the great info on the site.

Now, I think I have a problem. I build a house on 4.5 acres last year. while clearing the land, we found what we call a spring head. It is an area in the front of our property that water comes out of the ground. I have now way of cutting the grass down there, so I either have to weed-eat it, fill it in, or make a pond. The problem I have is I dug some holes with a post hole digger and got VERY mixed results. One hole I hit clay about 6" down and never got past it in the 6' I dug. The other hole I hit sand/water at about 24"(This is clost to where the water comes out of the ground). The entire ground in the area is "spongy" and there is a drain pipe that goes under the road. I know I could plug the drain pipe and move some dirt around to create my levee, but I am worried about the sand. I will be contacting the NRCS office, but just wanted to see if anybody had any ideas on here. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow to help with my horrible description.

Pleas ask any questions you have, I am sure I left out some important info.

Thanks,

Ax

Hello AX,

Welcome to PB. I wish I was in your position having a new baby about to be born. I can't answer those questions for you, I'm the guy to ask once the water is in the pond, but I know we have some great people to answer your imediate questions.

Again, I wanted to be one of the first to say HI!

If the spring never stops and it is enough flow, that and maybe a bit more should be where your water level could be.

Springs are nice when water flows but a nightmare when they are the drain!

Edit: A little black plastic, a shovel, and some landscape rock can make a nice little creek channel for thre water to drain and flow to the pipe you mentioned properly. Pictures would be great since I am purely guessing!

Welcome pilot.
First off there is usually porous soil where water comes to the surface or it wouldn't be able to leak out of the aquifer. It's always a gamble to start a pond in such an area but lots of ponds have been successfully built around springs. Personally I would prefer to build the pond in such a way that the spring would be above or just at full pool level of the proposed pond if the lay of the land allows.
The only way I know to tell for sure is to start moving dirt. You need to ask some questions before starting though & the fact you're looking for knowledge here has just greatly increased the chance you'll end up with something that will give alot of pleasure for years to come.
Think about what your initial goals for a pond will be & list them here & the guys like Rainman can offer lots of good advice. How big .. will it be primarily for fishing .. or aesthetics.. swimming .. for kids .. etc.

Here are the pictures. the blue circle is where the water is coming from, the red circle is the area that stays "spongy" and the yellow line is about where I would like the water line to be. I am also open to other options, I just want to be able to use that part of my yard, not have a swamp.

http://s683.photobucket.com/albums/vv196/axpilot/?action=view¤t=pondlocal.jpg

http://s683.photobucket.com/albums/vv196/axpilot/?action=view¤t=pond2.jpg

http://s683.photobucket.com/albums/vv196/axpilot/?action=view¤t=pond4.jpg

Welcome to the forum--Glad you found us.

Have you lived there long enough to know if the wet spot ever dries up?

in the two years we have owned the property it has never been dry. sometimes it is not as wet as others, nub never completely dry.

Been out of touch-- not followed up on anything.

How is it going?