Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site On Lassig Pond

Yeah, I'll say the vegetation came in well. Nicely done.

Here is the latest picture of the pond, the water level has dropped 16" to 20" in the last two weeks. Hoping it is just the ground around the pond soaking up the water and not a leak.

Still looking good. Love the panoramic shots you take. How do you do that? If you haven't mentioned it already...

I use a free program from Microsoft call ICE. Pretty straight forward to use, I just need to get the pictures taken correctly

Cool. I'll have to check that out. Sorry if you've mentioned it already...

That is cool. All this time I though ice was only something you put in a Captain and Coke.

It all looks, great, Lassig. I can see a lot of work was done, and the results are fruitful. I really love the stand of trees and steep bank with roots. Nice work.

I really like the stand of trees and the steep bank also but I am starting to be afraid that I will have to remove them. My dirt guy and doug at pond doctors beleive it is the source for my pond not holding water. We have had 9"+ of rain in the last month and the pond is barely up and dropping fast. So we are going to watch it over the winter and see if the situation changes. I doubt it will fix itself but it is the season for miracles. If things are not much improved by May the trees go. The good news (if there is any) is that the pond will be much bigger now, maybe by as much as a 1/4 acre. If we have to do this extra dirt moving I plan on using DB-200 over the entire bottom of the pond as an extra precaution.

Here is the lastest picture of the pond from last Saturday

Does the plan above sound reasonable? Other ideas?

No opinions?

Those trees do look like some kind of seep - sand/ gravel vein, etc. - could be hiding underneath their roots. If you're sure of the integrity of the rest of the pond, what else is left?

Thanks Theo, we are pretty confident that the rest of the pond is good. As you said we are concerned that there is some sand hiding under the trees sucking the water away. I guess I am hoping of a miracle and I wouldn't have to do anything, very unlikely.

Since I am not resident at the pond I am putting up a trail camera that takes time lapse photos of the water level measuring stick I put in a couple of weeks ago. I am doing this to monitor the levels of the pond and see if it stabilizes at some level, this may help identify roughly where the leak is (at least level).

If it were a leak from the trees wouldn't the water level only lower to that height? The water level in the last pic is quite a bit lower than where those trees roots are...just a thought

The concern is that we didn't get into the north shore and don't know what may be in there causing the leak. In the last pic the water is 1 to 2 feet up on the north slope that we didn't touch. So it could be hitting a sand/gravel vain that we did not see and sucking the water out. Then once we get above that the trees could cause an issue.

I do plan on monitoring the water level until May before I make a decision on what to do.

The higher the water level, the higher the pressure is pushing the water out, so the leak might be slightly below where the water level is now. I hope you get it figured out, it's a pretty site for a pond.

Thanks esshup I love the site just may have to love it with a few less trees and a little bigger pond. Time will tell

Do you know the geology of the area ? In some places trees root and grow in fractures in the bed rock. The root growth further fractures the rock. That would be the first place to check if the pond bottom is not the problem.

The geology is fairly well understood. In building the pond we moved between 13 to 15K cubic yards of dirt. In all of the dirt only 2 small rocks where found. I don't know how far down it is to bedrock but I don't think that is the issue. I leaning more towards it being a sand vain that is sucking the water away. We did hit 2 small pockets of sand while building the pond. We where able to completely dig them out and fill with clay. In total they where about 10 yards of sand and it was reomved from the pond area. Both of them where at the bottom of the ravine in the basin of the pond and the reason why I don't have the 25+ deep hole in the pond that I wanted. One of those areas is under about 8' of clay and the other in under at least 3' of clay.

What about a test bore in the tree area to see if it encounters sand and if so at what depth. I doubt the tress are the problem but they may be growing in or over a sand seam.

I have to check around and see who could do this for me. I am really hoping we stay on the wet side till May so I can be sure it is a leak.

If the trees don't cause a problem they really add to the beauty of a pond, very nice pond.

It has been a couple of months since I posted any progress on my pond so here is an update. Being winter not much is happening but I did get the trail camera in place to monitor the pond level. Still working out the kinks with this but a time lapse movie of the pond from 12/12/09 to 2/19/10 is available at

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243...dlevel_0001.flv

It does appear that the pond stabilizes at a level which is roughly in the area of where we didn't do any compaction on the north side (direction the camera is facing from the time lapse above). Talking with my dirt guy he strongly beleieves that we need to remove the trees/roots on the nroth side and escavate this area out to a slope of 3:1. This will show us if there is a sand vain causing this issue and allow us to compact this area. In addition to this he wants to add bentonite to the entire pond basin as a precaution. I am having problems spending the money for bentonite ($8k - $12K+) when I don't know if it is really going to be needed. I am planning on doing a couple of bucket tests with just the soil from the pond and see if it leaks, if it does that answers the question on bentonite being needed.

If we do use bentonite will this prohibit vegatation growth in the pond? Looking to have some water lillies on the east and new north side of the pond.

I am still waiting till May to make a final decision if the north side gets removed or not, but right now I would say there is a 99% chance of that.

Any suggestions, comments, or other plans of attack are welcome.

What about using the bentonite, then putting a couple yards of dirt on top of it in the areas that you want the lilies to grow?

That is an option to get the lillies to grow if Bentonite is used. Could use container also I suppose and that would stop the lillies from spreading out of control. I am really trying to avoid using bentonite if at all possible. Hopefully the bucket test will prove it is not needed. I am already 2.5 times over budget on this project and bentonite would make it 3.5 to 4 times over budget.

Dusty from Tx Water Lilies says it is no chance of hybrid or tropical lilies spreading too much. In fact, he said if put in a container, they will not grow to near their full potential. I did put mine in containers with a mix of clay and bank sand,to start getting them established. Should be ready to set in pond edge by June when it will be down about 2 ft. From there I will start with well water to keep level hopefully stabilized 2 ft. over the lilies.
Now if you plant lotus, all bets are off.
Dont see how an inch or 2 of bentonite would negatively effect the lilies as their roots will spread out and down.