We finished building our pond the last week of October 2013. We have Smithdale and Colins (Iuka) soils with at least 18% clay. The contractor took clay from a hillside and mixed it into the pond base.
The pond should fill to 13 1/2' deep, with an average depth of 7 feet. The contractor built the levy with a 8' wide trench / core. He filled the core with heavy clay soil, rolling it in with a sheepfoot roller.

Unfortunately, we believe the pond leaks. It fills to 8', then seems to drop back to 7 1/2' and hold. The ground is completely dry below the levy. However, the dam seems to draw water upward, giving an appearance of a sponge, pulling the water upward. I can snap a picture if this would help describe our situation.


The contractor said not to worry. The pond water level will rise and fall until it reaches full pool. He said this is the clay expanding and soils getting saturated.

Does this sound reasonable?

What you are seeing on the dam is normal. My question is did he also compact the pond basin with the sheepsfoot or just the dam core?

A pond level will rise and fall until the soil surrounding the pond is saturated.

Thanks esshup,

I'm not sure if he rolled the entire pond. What concerns me is the water has risen four times to the highest level, then dropped. Until the water reached this level, each water rise pretty much stayed at that level.

I may be nervous for no reason. We hopped to have a full pond with fish swimming around by now.

Jim