Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Cover and Structure

That's a LOT of settling. Keep an eye for leaks!

Will do, Esshup... My dozer guy swears there are no leaks. To put things in perspective, the section of the dam that settled is about 14-15 ft above grade (all new clay) and 20-25 ft wide at the bottom. There are other parts of the dam (not as high) that have settled about 6 inches or so. I'm pretty sure it's just the clay mix soaking up water and compacting. We cored the new section and there doesn't appear to be any shifting. But, all things considered, it still seems like a lot of settling to me so you can bet I'll be watching.

We're heading up this weekend and there hasn't been much rain recently. So, I should be able to tell if there are any new streams of water flowing from around or under the dam.

OK, the water level was down about 4-6 inches but I think that is due to the lack of rain and evaporation thanks to a recent cold front. I couldn't find any wet areas behind the dam.

There's a wet spot in the old creek bed that's about 15 feet behind the dam but that's been there as long as I can remember. Otherwise, dry as a bone.

Will keep watching...

Well, the pond is at full pool again and, with all the rain, it''s hard to tell if there's a leak. If there is a leak, it's not keeping up with the rain - not even close. The spillway is going strong after the last 5 inches of rain. I noticed another 2-4 inches of settling where we used fresh clay on the dam. I'll have to keep an eye on that area but I just don't see any signs of leaks.

The turtles are up and we rescheduled the electroshock survey for the 24th with Overton. Should be a fun day!

WimgNuts Most real problems will show up the first time the pond is full, all ponds leak and a wet spot behind the dam is not out of the line.

Hi Mike, thanks! That's good to know. We didn't see anything early on except for the settling. That seems to have stopped now or, at least, slowed down a lot.