At my only possible pond location, I had groundwater within 1" of the surface during the high water season. I didn't want to go above ground and I couldn't accept on faith that I could control the pressure of all that water. I was fortunate enough to have an existing drain to the municipal stormwater system and chose to drain the pond location with a buried pipe system. This limited the depth of my pond (2') because the existing drain was fairly shallow and I still had to trench 75' to get the drain pipe and existing pipe to the same levels for flow. While I wish I could have gone deeper, but never planned on fish anyway, I just drained my pond for fall cleaning (drained through an overflow to the same system) and left it empty for a few days, without a worry. Surprisingly, for all the groundwater moving around on my property, I rarely see any trickle going to the municipal catch basin. Despite all the advice I got about a drainage system being unnecessary, I am a firm believer. A flat lot such as yours requires a different approach but it is doable with some effort and money. Dry well, cistern, small filter pond come to mind. That said, it seems your groundwater is relatively deep and the solution of raising and allowing water pressure in the pond to counteract it should prevent serious problems down the road. But, water never stops doing what it does over the short or long term and I recommend you think about a simple system to remove a bit of it. Then again, I tend to over-think and over-design about everything at my age as once was more than enough to do my pond. Just my opinion and circumstances. This topic comes up time to time, so search the forum archives for more opinions. Best of luck. Mike

Well, if you are going to just use the 2.5 acre pond to "fill" your garden pond it won't be too big of an issue. However, if it is going to continually be used to power the waterfall etc (IE a big loop) you will infact be filtering the ENTIRE 2.5 acre pond. I doubt that would be effective, or cost efficient. I think you need to have 2 systems both closed off from one another.

Lilys are only going to give you cover for part of the year. Make sure the lake they are coming from is hydrilla free. That stuff can and will take over. Cover for the fish------ Wood will have a better and more lasting effect. Old christmas trees in a pile. Fell some trees and use the tops. Brush piles, rock piles and the like would be a better cover alternative. Lilys would be easier to dig the plants (if its legal in your area to do so) Most plants only offer summer time cover and lilys are not the best cover for prey fish to hide from other fish. They offer more overhead cover from herons and eagles and such.

After getting irritated that your neighbor did not tell you about the dye before hand, you boast that you did not tell him about dye you ordered? Wouldn't want to be the neighbor of either of you! You may want to ask your lawyer how your planned action differs from your neighbor's.