Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations How silly is this idea?

An old farmer with some ponds said to caulk a leak in a pond by putting in large amounts of "newspaper" to find the leak and plug it. I've never read this here and I might assume his pond sealed itself, but you just never know -- sometimes the oldtimers know things I could never imagine.

I have a leak that I believe is coming through a rock ledge and finding it's way to the bottom backside toe of the dam at about 2 gallons a minute. Have a spring feeding the pond so it does not drop until July -- Sept, and the leak has not gotten worse. Have a very large watershed - so at the first good rain this 2 acre pond fills again.

Newspapers -- is that crazy? I throw away a bunch of them and well, I'm grasping at straws and have no more money to dump into this pond.

No I think you're grasping at newspapers!

Sorry i couldn't resist.


Seriously... newspapers are made of wood pulp and will break down to an organic material which sometimes over time helps seal a pond. But I'm skeptical...

Ability of newspapers to seal a leak would depend on the type of leak and the soil conditions. I think it might work once in ten or twenty different situations or types of leaks.

Hoo-boy! When it comes to plugging leaky ponds, I've heard some dillies . .. but stuffing it full of newspapers? Surely you jest.

Once again, we see there's an pond expert on every bar stool.

Mark McDonald
founding editor

If the newspaper had a good article written by Bob Lusk on sealing a leaking pond, it could do wonders.

What was the material that worked so well in Bars stop leak? I have seen a radiator gushing water and pour in a can of that stuff it would stop immediately. Probably some kind of poison.

Hello, Editor, Mark McDonald!

It's been awhile. Where ya been??

Hey, Little Dog...There's lots of suggestions out there to plug the leak. Actually, plugging the leak is not usually the hard part. The hard part is figuring out where and how there is a leak. It's not just simply looking and seeing and knowing. If it were, newspaper may be a good answer. But, so would clay, bentonite, grits and organic stuff. When we think about leaky ponds, it's not as much of an issue of what material to use as much as it is an adventure to find out the mystery of the leak.

Oh boy -- I figured that would get some funny replys and yes I am "grasping at newpaper" -- just anything. You folks are great -- thanks for the dialog -- it is appreciated.

Here's one...

How about taking the trees you've removed from the site where you are going to build your pond, burning them, then spreading the ashes over the bottom of the pond to help improve marginal soils? I know a particular guy who swears by it. Not sure I'm convinced.

Robinson shares a pal's method of pluggin a leak:
I wonder how many leaky ponds have been fixed with Enron-quality Seepage Control?

Trent:

Wood ash is usually considered pretty mediocre fertilizer. While it would be of some benefit, I suspect it would pale compared with the application of liquid or chemical pond fertilizer as it is normally practiced.

Wood ash works as well as gypsum to break down clay. It also is quite acidic depending on the type of trees that were burned.

My very, very limited knowledge on this subject is that acidity in some way affects the charge of clay particles (as does alum) causing them to attract one another and form clumps, which are heavy enough to fall out of suspension. Is this inaccurate?