I ran an experiment with 'gley soil' to see if would hold water as advertised on aquaculture forums I have read. I had a 55 gallon drum (plastic) that was cut in half to make a 'bucket'. I drilled several holes in the bottom, filled with about 3 inches of dirt. Then filled with about 6 inches of green alfalfa hay, then another 3 inches of dirt. I filled to the brim with water and left a dripping water hose on the top.
After two weeks, I removed the water hose. The water stayed on top, only what I expect was normal evaporation was gone. Success!!!!!!!
I dug out a very small hole in the ground to test the experiment in the ground. When I dumped the drum on the ground, we had to evacuate the county, because the stink was so bad (at least we held our noses, man it stunk).
Maybe success was a little premature.
BTW it also stunk in the drum, it was just not quite as noticeable.
Back to researching liners. It sucks being a cheapskate.
Greg

Interesting. Lots of us are DIY'ers and have fun messing with new ideas. I wonder whether fish would have lived in that water.

Fish might survive, they certainly wouldn't have to worry about hooks, nobody could get close enough to throw one in.
Seriously, I wonder if a foot of soil cover would have killed the smell, at least over a period of time. I had noticed bubbles coming to the surface in the drum, at the time I thought oxygen was escaping. Now I wonder if it was Methane from the decomposing alfalfa. I wonder if, over a period of time, the decomp would stop and the smell go away.
Un-uh, if I re-start the experiment, it might cause a divorce, haha.

I expect it was methane with the alfalfa cooking.

Yeah, I wouldn't do that again.