Permits for construction of ponds may be required by the Pennsylvania Dam Safety and Encroachments Act.  The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regulates ponds and pond construction in a number of ways.

A DEP permit may not be needed if you meet the following criteria:

  (You must be disturbing less than 1 acre in all cases.)

• Dam with height less than 15 feet and drainage area less than 100 acres and storage less than 50 acre feet.*
• Water impounded behind a dam that inundates a wetland. *
• Normal dam maintenance that does not change the pool level (height of dam) or spillway characteristics. *
• Dredging of an off-stream pond if the pond has been completely drawn down, i.e. it is no longer a body of water. *

DEP permit requirements may be waived if:

• It is a dam with height less than 3 feet on a stream less than 50 feet wide except on a wild trout stream.* 
• Maintenance of stormwater or erosion and sedimentation control basin.*
• Dredging of an existing off-stream pond if the pond is not drawn down at the time of dredging, i.e. it remains a body of water.*