My pond (about 30 X 30 ft.) was dug with a backhoe 20 years ago. The levee side (about 5 or 6 ft. high by 30 ft. long) is clay soil and was packed down by the backhoe. Over the years critters have dug into the levee wall from inside the pond, plus I've had some over-spill erosion.

I believe my current leak is actually seepage from critter burrowing. In the past I've managed to plug a few holes that I can see when the water is low in late summer. I'll do the same this year, probably in late July or August.

I'd also like to enhance the levee with a retaining wall to control burrowing. What would you suggest? Rip Rap? Concrete blocks? Something else. Aesthetics is somewhat secondary to cost.

Burying chainlink fence works great for muskrats.

I suspect turtles. I have huge turtles in my pond. Do they dig into levees?

Never heard of that.

Muskrats are the usual suspects found burrowing. Remove Cattails that are a favorite habitat, and you can bury chain link, or 2x4 wire hardware cloth at the normal high water line to about 3 feet deep along the dam and shorelines as RAH mentioned above....turtles won't be the problem.

But I have never seen a muskrat on my property. Plenty of bullfrogs and turtles. My pond has nothing growing around it -- no cat tails, trees, brush, etc. It's like something you'd see on a golf course, built on a slight incline with a levee on the down side.

The holes I mention are more link indentions in the interior side of the levee. Could be normal erosion, I guess. Regardless, water is seeping and parts of the levee are very damp and pliable.

I'll probably need to bolster the levee with a wall of some kind and back-fill with clay soil and bentonite to make the levee wider. Any recommendations on the wall? Concrete block, railroad ties, something else? Again cost is more important than aesthetics.

If you do not re-core the levee, you may be wasting your time. You could re-core behind the existing levee, if that is easier for you. The clay needs to be "dovetailed" into the existing clay below the surface.



This is our first self-built body of water. It is a wetland made to take runoff for a future barn, but currently has less watershed than the water surface area. The berm was stripped down to clay and a backhoe was used to excavate and repack a core in the same pass. Then clay was added in 6" lifts with each lift being compacted with a sheep's foot roller. Based on what we have seen, it holds water like a tub. I estimate the maximum depth at under 4 feet. Watershed is its only source of water.

Perfect scenario for Soilfloc - cost a fraction of the cost of excavation/engineering. Feel free to ping me happy to help.