Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Leakage or soaking?

I recently had a 1 acre pond built. It is 13 ft deep on dam end...the dam is approx 40 ft wide at bottom and about 2 ft above water level at full. I have had a big rain that was 5.5 inches and between it and run off I catch it filled the pond within 3 ft of full. I recieved another 1 inch rain 6 days later but in between the time i dropped 1 1/2 ft. I just recieved another 3 inch rain 7 days later which brought it back up to within 3 ft of full. I have dropped 1.5 inches in one day. Is this a concern with leakage? I would assume the amount of rain and how often would have everything soaked. No water behind dam

Welcome Cdavis. First of all I'm no pro, but I think you'll have to give it more time before you know if it is leaking or soaking, unless you see it running out somewhere. I would keep a close eye on it and see if it starts dropping less per day. I'm still waiting for my pond to fill also. When it first started filling, it would drop 3"-4" a day. Now when it comes up to a new level, it might drop 1/2" or so a day for a while, then gets slower and slower. So you could still have some hope. How tall is your dam? I will say it doesn't sound very wide. My pond will be 19' when full, and the dam is over a 100' wide at the bottom.

The dam is around 15 ft tall...it might be wider at bottom just guessing on that part. I probably am just overreacting. If it is leaking has to be going thru bottom...the bottom is very rocky and just worried it might be going thru a crack in the rocks.

What do you mean by rocky? Solid rock, gravel, rocky clay, size of rock ect…?

Hello and welcome to the forum!

New ponds experience a phenomenon referred to as "wicking" - it's essentially the dry surrounding soils absorbing water in a newly hydrated pond. It can take weeks or months before the soils are saturated and the pond levels out. 1.5" seems a bit accelerated however. I recommend installing a vertical water loss measurement device [stake, pvc, etc.] and monitor daily water loss between rain events. This data is critical. I would allow the pond basin/sidewalls 2-3 months to fully saturate before being concerned with a leak.

I have some solid rock but also rock (sandstone type) that broke apart and the guy pushed the pond out nothing extremely large such as boulders.