Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations pond seepage

As you might be able to tell I'm new to this site but wanted to ask a question(don't be too hard on me). I had a new pond dug last September it is about 1 acre big we live in Missouri and we have had a lot of rain in the past few months the pond is holding water fine as a matter of fact it has filled up and water has gone over the spillway just fine. There is a few wet spots on the back side of the pond and some seepage as small stream of water is running at the center backside of the pond. It is running around the outside of the pond. It has a good clay base or at least that was what I was told when I had it dug. The dam is about 20-30 feet wide at the base and tapers off to about 10 feet at the top. Should I be concerned about the leaking or wait until it warms up and see if it dries up. Any help would be great. I was looking at stocking it this week but didn't want to waist my money buying fish. Thanks

First of all, mustang, welcome to the forum.

Was the dam cored?

You might want to see the eerily similar thread "ok for water coming out the back of the dam?"
That may prompt some further info or questions.

I'm not sure what is ment by cored. I did have Missouri D&R do a soil test they drilled, tested and marked out the location of the pond. I then had a local guy dig it. It took him 5, 8 hour days with three D-6 Dozer's to dig it. Lots of rock in the base.
thanks for the reply.

Lot's of rock is not good for a pond bottom, way too possible cracks where water could leak out. A core is when you dig a trench in the area where the dam will go and fill it with good compactable clay to lock the new earth into the original. Then the dam is build on top of that. Worse case is you may have to drain the pond and line the bottom with about 12" of clay to cover the rocks and seal the bottom. I would just keep and eye on it first and see if the leak gets bigger.

Thanks for the information I will keep an eye on it. It does not seem to be getting any bigger as a matter of fact it may be getting a bit smaller. The problem is we are getting rain about two or three times a week. I hope the rain will taper off next month and I should be able to tell how much water I'm losing. I could take a few pictures of it and post them to this site. Thanks again for all your help.

Dale

mustang:
Keep an eye on this and see if you can determine how much seepage you are having. Is it 5 gallons per minute or more? The rule of thumb is that all dams have some seepage behind them if they are new or old.
Otto

Thanks for the infomation I will keep an eye on it. I'm not sure the total amount but would guess it would be 5 gallons or less. The problem is that we are still getting rain. I'm thinking it will be sometime next month before it stops raining and I should have a better idea on how much it is leaking. It does not look like there is any damage to the dam, it is holding water fine. I put out a marker and it looks like the overall pond has droped about 2" or 3" but I'm sure some of that has gone over the spillway as the wind will blow some of it out. I was looking at stocking it today there is a truck that will be up in our neck of the woods from AR that sells fish. Do you think it will be OK to stock it? I was going to put in about 100 Bass, 200 Cats and 400 pan fish and some fathead minnows. Any ideas on that?