Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions pond leak question

The pond goes completely dry. After talking with Mike Otto today, I think I am just going to bite the bullet and put in a liner. I hate that I spent the money with the other contractor but such is life. I'll just have to move on.

Mike doesn't think clay will get it done? Liner - ouch! Let us know if we can help source liner companies...I know Bruce has purchased and installed a couple on his former hatchery ponds.

Oops, posted based on the last page, then I saw your post about completely dry! OMG that stinks. Mine isn't that bad, but leaks enough to drive me nuts.

It takes it a while to go dry. Right now it has about 10-12 feet of water in it and it will take months for all of it to run out/evaporate. I lost a lot of fish when I first bought the place and did not know the pond was leaking. My wife is starting to get pissed off about this pond and reminds all the time about the fish I bought for the raccoons to eat when the pond dried up.

The lower the water level in the pond, the less pressure there is on the bottom and sides of the pond, so the leak slows down.

Brad, I am in Driftwood TX which is not far from Blanco and I am in a similar situation as you've described. I have a 1.3 acre pond ranging in depth from 5'-9' feet when full. My pond leaks badly, 4 inches per day until a certain point where it slows down considerably. I don't know if it is just leaking out of the dam or if it is also seeping through the bottom. I can't seem to anyone around here to give me solid advice on how to repair it. I just got the phone number a local guy who does this type of work and am waiting to hear back from him. I would be interested in knowing how you resolved your leak.

And it is this concept that makes it so difficult to find where the actual leak is.

I haven't done anything with this yet. I think I am going to wait until the water drops again and maybe try some bentonite on the bottom along with whatever clay I can find on my property. I guess I am a little gun shy of dirt contractors right now so I am going to just give it a shot myself with my tractor.

My Pond situation sounds very similar to yours in terms of weak limestone layers and not having the best clay bottom in my pond.

I have had good success with a polymer product that gets drawn into the limestone layers. It can be broadcast incrementally
when the water level is down so as to not need to cover a huge area. Then you can chase the leak up the valley as needed.

Or, if you have the $$$ to throw at it, you can cover a larger area with the product.


Anyway check out my post about it. I have no affiliation with that company, they just did a good job for me and while expensive, it is cheap compared to the other options.

John

I actually have tried using this product from Australia. I have put I think ten of the buckets in spread all over the pond but more toward the corner where I presume the leak to be. And yes it is expensive to have the material shipped from Australia. It may have slowed the leak some, but not near what I was hoping for. Maybe I should give it another shot. I have not had any fish in my pond for two years now since I don't think I can count on the water making it through the summer with the current leak.

Brad, I've tried bentonite on several occasions with no luck. Or maybe it was with no skill.

A cheap fix might be to run some pigs in it they will sill it I had 2 cow ponds with soild rock on bottom both would go dry in summer ran pigs in them for a summer and now they've held water for 4 years now never went dry again and im in arkansas it gets dry here, iv even heard of people using highdreht limestone to sill ponds around me but I used pigs when I was done with them I ate them they were good both ways pond and eating but im no professional im just redneck lol