Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Leaking lake in Llano, Texas

I'm looking at buying this property in Llano but the lake leaks and I'm not sure if there is a way to fix it. They've put some serious work into building their dam and they have a spring flowing into the lake but the water is about 10-15 feet from the top. I'm trying to find out if there is any way at all to fix any kind of leak it might have? Any ideas who I can talk to around Llano?

Call Mike Otto. His name and number are on this website.

Any idea what causes the leak?

Ashannon
First almost no lake stays full all the time, some do but most do not.
Worked around Llano as I remember it had a lot of rock and maybe a little limestone.
How old is the lake? Has It ever been full?
How much water from the spring is coming in the pond? If the spring dried up would the lake go dry?
Dave got this started, any Ideas? Can you get behind the dam and see any place that water is leaking?
A good indicator of what you should expect is the other ponds around this property on the neighbors.
Lots of other questions but let’s start with that.

Thanks Otto.

This one does fill up after lots of rain. It's mostly spring fed at the top of a mountain so it's not just tons of run off but a good amount. The spring looks to be about 10 gpm and is always running. The lake however is about 35 feet deep when full and is 20 feet low right now. I would think that spring should keep it up at least more than it is right now. The dam does not look to be leaking at all. It seems really well done. A pond across the road is about 3 acres and completely full. It's spring fed as well. I'm assuming that maybe if the water level goes any higher then it is then water seeps into a hole on the side of the lake somewhere.

The good news is like you said the dam is not leaking. That will eliminate that.
Something else to think about- water works on weight, gravity. A pond that is five feet may stay full all the time especially if it has a spring feeding flowing in. Now when it gets twenty feet deep that is an all together different equation. We added on to a small pond one time it held like a jug before we went to work after we added five feet to the dam the water level would fill but seep back to almost to the original level.
Did you keep track how long it took the water level to go down from full to 15 feet low. You could expect it to be 3 feet low like the neighbor but 15 feet is another story.
There could be a hole in the side of your lake, look around for that ,also a change in the material at that level, maybe a layer of sand or some other pours material