Calculate pond volume, excavation, spillway width, and catchment requirements — with BC Dam Safety Regulation checks built in.
The best pond site sits just below the keypoint — where a valley's slope changes from steep to gentle and the valley begins to widen. Look for where the terrain narrows upstream (giving you a shorter dam wall for maximum storage) and where a large catchment area funnels water toward a single collection point. This is Yeomans' optimal dam location: high enough for gravity-fed irrigation, with the landscape doing most of the engineering work.
Depth matters more than surface area. A pond 2-4 metres deep loses far less water to evaporation than a shallow spread, holds more volume per square metre of surface, and stays cooler in summer — critical for aquatic health and livestock water quality. The 0.4 volume factor in the calculations below accounts for the sloped banks that give your pond a bowl profile rather than a bathtub shape.
Enter your site details below. All fields are used to calculate volume, excavation, spillway sizing, and regulatory status.
A calculator gives you the numbers. A site visit gives you the plan. Book a walkthrough with Reid to scope your pond project.