Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Pond Leak

Last year we bought an acreage with a pond that had a leak at the dam. $7,500 and a year later our 1/2 acre pond is almost full. Here's the problem, 5 days ago, we noticed that the back of the dam was wet with some standing water. Today I noticed that the pond is down about 1/2" - 1".
Originally the dam was built without a clay core, thus there was a seriously leak. We hired a contractor who dug out the center of the dam and filled it back in with a mixture of the existing soils and bentonite.
My questions are: If there is noticable leak now, will it get worse? Is there a chance that the bentonite will eventually swell enough to fix the leak?
The contractor did tell us that we will notice the pond going up and down at first.

Anyone responding, please see the duplicate thread here.

Grovers,

Most dams leak....at least to some extent. Soil is a pervious material and will leak given time and head pressure (height of Dam), regardless of the soil texture. Actually the propensity for a dam to leak goes up exponential as the dam gets higher.
Probably why most States have a “maximum height of Dam requirement”. Nebraska = 25 ft. without special permits; Wyoming = 20 ft. without special permits.

The trick is to minimize leaking possibilities through proper dam installation (which you have probably done), and hope you have enough inflow, water depth and rainfall to keep the pond at an acceptable level.

Good Luck!
Ed

It sounds like you have done everything right and, assuming that the bentonite was well mixed, you should be in good shape. Like Ed says, all dirt leaks. Standing water might be cause for alarm but, I have seen water run or perc down from the back of a dam and settle at the bottom. 1/2 to 1 inch is a pretty negligable amount when you consider that it also will wick back into the surrounding soils.