Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? fast leaking lake in pike county

Okay boys....I have approximately a 12 acre lake in Pike County Il. We had it built 3 years ago. We have absolutely, no idea where it is leaking from. We have dug a hole behind the levy to make sure the leak wasn't there. It was fine. After a very frustrating 3 years of beautiful rains..we have cone to a loss of what to do. Bentonite would be very expensive to haul in...especially when we have no idea where its leaking. I need a professional the first time around on this project. to not waste thousands of dollars...where do I go from here.

Hello Pike County Girl and welcome to Pond Boss.

Hang on and let's get some expert feedback for you.

Awesome...thanks for your help!

Has it ever filled completely? Does it stop leaking at a certain level?

Pike county,

Wow big buck country and a 12 acre pond!!! It don't get any better than that. PCG the experts here may need a little more info to help you out. Here is a few things they may ask.

1. Has it leaked from the very beggining once you built it?
2. Like Jason said does it stop at a certain spot?
3. Can you see anywhere around the pond where it's wet or swampy from water leaking?
4. What type of soil are you sitting on? Good clay base, sandy?

If you don't see any water anywhere around the pond then your water must be going down into your soil under the pond i would think, but I am no expert by any means. Hopefully someone here can give you a little better insight as to what to look for!

Good Luck,

It has never filled completely, we are not there all the time...this is our hunting cabin and property. And "YES" the huge deer are here, we love it!! My brother has recently moved in permanately and is available to watch the level. We have good clay in the bottom. We sent a water sample to our friend in Vernal UT, who owns a drilling company. He says bentonite, but trucking that in and just "trying it out" does not seem like what I want to try. We already have several thousands in this lake, and the first move I make, I would like to be my last.(ya right, huh) The research I have done seems as though I need a TRUE professional here, and I just want to do the right thing.
We have checked the perimeter and the levy. Nothing! If anyone has any ideas of the beginning steps, my brother is there on a daily basis to check certain things. I just dont know who to call, I am at the point of....CALL THE PROFESSIONALS IN. So thats who I guess Im looking to call if anyone knows who that might be around our area.

How do you know it's leaking? Can you load up pics? Answer the previous questions as detailed as possible? Has te whole perimeter been walked at waters edge? 20' from edge, 30' from edge, 50' from edge, 75' from edge so on so on.. Looking for wet spots or sloughs of very wet land? What's the surrounding landscape? Are the only hills the backside of the dam? I'd start by looking at the bottom of hills but the leak could be hundreds of feet away from the actual lake? Who built the lake? Did he line it correctly with clay? Did he have any certain problem areas? What kind of overflow systems are installed? Has it ever reached them? Was there springs feeding in in the build that might be feeding out with all the additional water pressure from the lake..

There's a million questions..

PS- I'm in bond county down the road and can answer all your problems for hinting rights

Also these ARE the questions the pro's will ask first.. The Best pond builders/manager in America are common on this forum.. Unfortunately pond leaks are never an easy/cheap fix.. Best scenario the leak is found and bentonited (unlikely) worst case you drain, re-line with clay and compact correctly (likely)

Just my opinion hopefully it's an easy fix..

Herman brothers pond management in Peoria Il.. Could probably send you in the right direction..

LOL!!! Truth is...We would absolutely give hunting rights to whoever comes up with a solution. As you can imagine this is very mind boggling.
I will try to answer all of these questions as well as I know how. The reason I know it's leaking is that the lake has been several feet high and can drop 6-12 inches a week. The only time it does not leak is when it is raining. The previous Farm Manager we had has not helped us very much keeping up on eyelevels. But we are ready to now. I will upload pics as soon as I get them tonight. The landscape around the lake is hilly. The levy is huge. There is a small creek behind the levy, about 1/4 mi behind. We have put dye in to see if the creek ended up with any in it. Im not positive it didnt, but our "farm manager" at the time may not have checked as he should. But the answer he gave us was NO. We have walked the perimeter all over, we deer hunt here, and also dove hunt, so we did this at those times. Behind the levy, in between the lake and the creek is wooded heavily..we dug there with a trackhoe and didnt find water. The guy who built the lake told us...later on..that he did hit rock on the sides, but lined it with clay correctly. The overflow is close to the top of the levy, and water has NEVER gotten that far up. It has been leaking since the beginning, it seems to me that it does stop at a certain point, but with evaporation it was hard to tell last summer.
I have pictures of the lake when it was built with just the very first few rainfalls of water in it, I will try to locate those as well.

Welcome to the forum!

These may be hard questions, but they'll help us narrow it down. I'm assuming that when the levee was built they dug a core trench, and tied that core into good soil at the ends of teh levee? How did they compact the soil (what equipment did they use)? Ideally, a sheepsfoot roller was used, and not a bulldozer (for compaction).....

How thick was the clay that he put over the rocks? How'd he compact it?

Hopefully we can get it figured out for you.

The extra bad part about this whole thing is that the guy who built our lake is out of commission...imagine that? The closest answers I can come up with concerning the levy are...they did dig a core trench, I do not know if they tied that core into the soil at the ends? In the middle of building our lake, we fired the initial builder for lack of work getting done. They did not use a sheepsfoot...I know...ridiculous. I'm afraid a bulldozer was used. Also the finishing people that we hired have said they finished with scrapers. They did say that they think the core was not done correctly, but it had already been completed at the time they arrived. We were in Africa at the time the lake was being constructed, therefore I did not see all the equipment that was used, I am (at this time) trying to find out all the info I can so I may be able to help you help me.

Awwww rats.....

The only other thing that I can tell you is get all the information that you can, and then call Mike Otto and bend his ear. He's in Tx., but is co-owner of this forum. He's listed in the resources under Ottos dirt service.

If the problem is what I think it is, it might save you $$ in the long run to pay him to come up and do a consult.

If you can get in touch with Nate (n8ly) here (Herman Bros Pond management) they might be able to recommend someone.

But, a phone call to Mike Otto wouldn't hurt.

Thank You so very much. I just took it upon myself seconds ago to call the intial constuctor, he was very nice. He did tell me that they did dig a core trench with very good clay. They did tie it into the ends. He says he thinks the problem lays in the rock that they hit. He simply thinks a really good layer of clay over the sides where the rock was should fix the problem?
I am definatley going to try to contact Otto and see what he thinks also. I would definately pay him to come and analyze.

If the core is good, then my bet would be on the layer over the rocks. But, lets wait to see what Otto has to say. I'd be interested in what his take is on it.

If you want a VERY good chance of the clay sealing, I've heard that it should be 24" thick. Ideally, once the clay has the correct moisture content (not too soupy, not too dry) it should be compacted in 6" "lifts" with each layer knitted together with the layer beneath it with a sheeps foot roller. That way the 24" thick layer becomes one layer, even tho it was put down in different layers, sort of like a damascus steel knife blade.

Rocks can be bad when not sealed correctly.. Can the lake be drained down enough to expose that complete area? Thing is if the waters leaking into the rock there might not be tell tale signs around the lake of a leak..(which you said there ain't) contact Otto and Nate.. Between them 2 you'll be straightened out..

Good luck please keep us informed.