Pond Boss
Posted By: curranv New Pond Leaking or soaking in/evaporation? - 06/13/18 04:12 AM
Hello all, Last fall I had a pond excavated on my property. Under 18” of black dirt was good clay and that was pack down to create the liner in it. It has depths up to 12’ with average of 6-7’ and it is 1.25 acres.

Over the spring the rains would leave some water in the bottom, that would eventually dry up, and the rain running down the slopes created wash outs. I filled it up last week from an irrigation well. It took 36 hours and was filled, but every day it seem to drop 3-6”. I understand some of this could be evaporation as it has been hot and windy. But is the rest just the area around the pond absorbing it, as I have been told it will do. Or could it already be leaking? It doesn’t have a dam, it is just burmed up around it with water at ground level.

Any info or advice would be helpful!
Hey fellow Husker!

It's hot and dry in NE, but max evaporation I've ever seen around Lincoln is maybe .25" - .33" daily. For new ponds it does take time to saturate surrounding soils for the first couple months, but 3-6" seems too aggressive.

Measure your vertical water loss daily, keep it topped off with the well, and if you're not seeing weekly improvement feel free to reach out to me. I have helped many Pond Boss family with leaking ponds and am happy to try and assist.

TJ
402.730.4897
tj@hudlandmgmt.com
Thanks TJ, I will try and figure out exactly how much each day and see if it’s getting better. I will be in touch! GBR
I have a similar problem. I'm located in east Texas about 45 minutes north east of Houston. I dug my pond out on the July 4th weekend of this year. It was good clay at around 2 -3 feet. The pond is about 10 feet deep at its deepest and a pretty steep edge with some straight vertical walls on two sides where the dozer cut a channel. The channel is at the bottom and is only 2 and a half feet tall then goes to a slope of about 2:1. The slope goes to the top. It's burmed up about a foot and a half above the original ground level. No run off from the yard. The pond is more of a triangular shape with all three sides measuring roughly 90 feet.
We hit water sand at about 12 feet and put 2 feet of clay back over it. I've already got a pier and steps going into it with footings going into the dirt around 3 feet and they are cemented in. None of the footings go as deep as the water sand.
At the pier, there is a pecan tree on each side of it only about 5 feet from the shore line.
It was an extremely hot (high 90's daily) and very humid summer. We had a few bouts of heavy rain that filled my pond up about 2 feet. That was all in July. It was all going great.
Then my problem started. In August, I decided to just fill up my pond with well water. It was adding about 4 vertical inches a day. Going well. But, when I would turn the water off, it would drop about the same or maybe a little less daily. I chocked it up to evaporation because of the heat plus the soil being extremely thirsty and figured it would have its fill and let my pond fill up before long. Then I turned my water back on and hooked sprinklers up hoping it would help saturate the ground. After running it for about a week or so like this, I decided to turn it off for a while. The pond level at that point was about 4 - 5 feet deep. After about a week, I lost almost 2 feet. So, I repeated the process and started marking my water line. I'm losing around 4 inches a day. Regardless of the rainfall. I have been told by a few people that it's likely not leaking but I'm losing faith in that.
It will drain to a certain point and then stop draining. I've noticed a hole on one of the vertical sides and the water level always stops dropping at the bottom of that hole. The hole is about 3 inches in diameter. Don't know how deep it is. Was thinking maybe a crawfish. I do have some crawfish holes in my pond.
After that long description, my question is:
1. Does it sound like my pond is leaking, evaporating, soaking up into the dirty still?

2. If that hole is the culprit (which im suspecting it is), how can i 'spot fix' just that spot? Especially with it being on a vertical edge?

3. Any recommendations on if I should line it, or spread sodium bentonite along the water line and shore line after I let the water level settle, or tap into the water table and put almost like an artesian well with a pipe sticking out to the level that I would want my water line?

Sorry for the long post. Just trying to be thorough. Thanks for all of the help.


-SLAUGKL
Hello and welcome to the forum! I help lots of Pond Boss family with leaking ponds - feel free to reach out anytime - my time is free happy to help!

TJ

tj@hudlandmgmt.com
We had our pond dug last fall in eastern Nebraska. It has filled up this year with help from a well. It got to a certain level, now it doesnt continue to fill. Even as the days are cooler and we should have much less evaporation. Was looking at possibly using Soil floc. Didnt know if others had success with it.
See if this thread helps you or use Google to search for other threads on SoilFloc

SoilFloc thread
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