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Pond Engineering Policy
The following is intended to provide District landowners with guidelines as to the procedures and agreements in effect when the Allen Soil & Water Conservation District, with technical assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, provides engineering assistance for the construction of ponds.

Pond Design Deposit
To assure the installation of planned practices, the Allen Soil and Water Conservation District requires a deposit for engineering plans according to the following policy:

• $750.00 (engineering, plans, survey, design, etc.)
• $250.00 (deposit to be refunded after a year, see refund policy below)

These fees will be collected from the landowner after the preliminary investigation is completed and prior to the start of any survey and design work.

Reason for Deposit
A considerable amount of time is spent by SWCD and NRCS staff doing survey and design work.  In some cases, many man-hours have been lost because the pond was never constructed or was installed without regard to design specifications.  Our staff time is limited and the construction season is short.  It is most important to focus our staff time in those areas which offer the best return in high quality conservation work.  The deposit is set to provide an incentive to landowners to construct the pond according to specifications.

Refund Policy
The $250.00 deposit will be refunded one year after a SWCD or NRCS employee certifies that the practice has been installed to meet plan specifications.  If corrections necessary to meet design specifications are not fulfilled within 60 days of the construction check, or if construction has not been completed within one year from the date the landowner received the plan, the deposit shall be forfeited.  Forfeiture deposit constitutes a donation to the Allen Soil and Water Conservation District.

Extenuating circumstances may be appealed, by written notice within 45 days of the expiration of the agreement, to the Board of Supervisors with their decision being final.  No interest will be paid to the landowner on money held by the District.

This policy was adopted by the Board of Supervisors on August 17, 2022.

You may download the ASWCD Pond Policy here.