Two years ago, we dammed up the tributary to the creek so that we could run Roy’s ram pump to water the garden. That is a post unto itself…

The dam was originally made by stacking rock, weaving in vinyl roofing material, and sealing with mortar. It worked very well and we had free water for a year. Our mistake was letting the dam stay full even when we weren’t using it. This made a crawdad habitat that produced some very large ones. They eventually tunneled around the dam on both sides, creating a sieve around the sides. It got so bad, that the dam wouldn’t hold enough water to run the pump. This weekend, Roy backed up the stream as best he could and we set out to reinforce the sides to crawdad-proof it.

After considering several options, including pond liner, Roy decided the best (and cheapest) way was to concrete it. We lined it with rocks and in some instances, wire with rocks behind it, and then put concrete over them to form a solid wall.  We are making it considerably larger this time, by digging further into the bank, and we are only half-way through, but it seems to be a very good (and permanent) solution.