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thinking a little about zkhent and bills posts (i'll call it "new pond wetting"), it really would all depend on the site geology. you could estimate the wetting based on the properties of endmember soils (sand, silt clay) and then consider your own soils (for ex. sandy silt loams or silt with clay loams....or any combination thereof)......you'd have to know yer site.

i've heard various things like it takes a year for a new pond to "settle in", but bill brought up good points on the other page......if its built right, it shouldnt do that at all.

in my case right after renovation (Nov 05) and first filling (Jan 06) i didnt notice a thing until about May 06. it was dropping slightly faster than the evaporation rate, but by late summer, it was all evaporation.....there might have been some degree of "new pond wetting" but in a properly built pond it's really difficult to quantify if its not what you'd call a leak or seep, and as robinson mentioned, why count on it sealing itself?, seal it to begin with, and if thats not possible, at least cross yer fingers with your eyes open.

what happened to DonB?


GSF are people too!

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I'm reading the replies.

I'll just wait and see what happens. My contractor has done a lot of ponds in the area and I'll have to trust that he did it right. I'll do what he said...wait and see. What I need is RAIN. We get a little and then nothing for a week or more. What we get fills the pond 6" to a foot and then over the next week or so it slowly goes down. I'm not getting anywhere!

I have a "slight" valley with the dam across it. Most of the pond was dug out due to the slightness of the valley. There was a LOT of "topsoil", nice dark dirt that had (I guess) slowly filled in the valley, flattening it out, over thousands of years.

We hit water at about 6-8ft. The contractor called it "lateral water". The dam was dug down to about 12ft below the accumulated "topsoil" and a bunch of old tree trunks that were buried there during the land clearing. He dug until he hit clay. Both sides of the valley are clay. That is where he got the clay for the dam. He did mix some of the darker dirt with the clay to make about a 5:1 mix (?) of clay and topsoil.

Everything I've heard here makes me believe that he did the right things. So, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. He said give it at least 6 months or more before I panic and they'll come back to rework the dam.

Did I mention that the SE and lower Alabama has been in a very bad drought that we're just coming out of. So, I'm hoping that he's right. That this is lateral water from upstream that has always been flowing through this "draw" and with the dam istalled it will keep it dammed up. The WAS water flowing very slowly where the dam is located when we bought the property. That natural water level was about at about 1/2 the pond depth level. I'm hoping that the "topsoil" surrounding the pond just needs to saturate again and then 'll be good to go.

I REALLY appreciate all your input.

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Joe, I have about the same situation. We recently got some nice rains and the water level came up about a foot. Within 2 weeks it had gone back down. My pond isn't new and I assume that the dry soils just suck it out from the sides. I need extended rains to catch up. We are into an 8 year drought.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

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Man...a BUNCH of rain today. The pond went from nothing but a few puddles to about 3ft deep!!!

And...it's STILL raining! I may be about 1/3-1/2 full by tomorrow.

So, what everyone is saying is: The pond will fill a bit and then go down some taking anywhere from 6 months to a year to fully fill and keep water?

I'll mark the edge tomorrow and see how fast it falls. What would be an acceptable rate? Remember, this is a new pond and it's never had nearly this much water before. I've had a foot before that slowly disappeared.

Boy, I hope I don't have a leaker...

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Every pond is different.
As are soils in different areas.
Consequently the "right" way to build a pond will not be the same in all areas.


Make it look easy,
http://zhkent.com
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I dug a .40 acre pond on my property 8 months ago. For the first several months (Spring) we got a lot of rain but the pond seemed to lose quite a bit of water to seepage. It was roughly half full in May. Then we had a Summer drought and the pond lost a lot of water to evaporation and probably some to seepage. It started to rain regularly again in July, and last week the pond was at roughly the same level it was last Spring. (half full)

In the last 2 days we've gotten heavy rains so the pond should have more water in it now than ever. Since the weather has cooled off this Fall the water level is not dropping any between rains, so I guess the pond has sealed itself. I'm expecting it to completely fill this winter. I dug the pond myself and it might have sealed faster if the soil were properly compacted by someone who knew what they were doing. It's taking a while to fill because it doesn't have as much watershed as it should. It seems like it's taken 6 months or so to seal and quit seeping.

Good luck!
Eric

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It's filling!



Click for the full image.

Got 2.25 inches yesterday. I'm about 1/3 full. Hopefully the surrounding soil is saturationg and it will hold the water...

I'll let you know how fast it "sinks".

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Nice looking pond, mine is a different shape but looks roughly the same size. Have you measured it and the watershed? Looks like all your watershed may be above the pond and that the spillway may be the bottom right. What are the posts on the lower end of the pond?

We got 1.86" yesterday and it's still raining. If you don't have a rain gauge TVA has gauges online at http://www.tva.gov. Click "Reservoir info" and then "Valley Precipitation" to get a list of local rain gauges for the Southeast.

Last weekend the water was almost touching my lower dock posts which are the upper and most shallow end of the pond. It's rained 3 times in the last week and I bet the water is covering the dock posts for the first time. We live 7 miles away and I need to run over there and check it out.

Eric

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No, I haven't measured the pond yet but I'd guess around 1/2 acre. My watershead is at least 20 acres. Most of the water comes in from the right. You can see the bales of hay and the "canyons" caused by the water coming in FAST.

Those posts are where my fence is going. Those are the small gate posts.

It's gone down some, maybe 2" since yesterdays rain. I walked downstream, past the dam today and I don't see any running water so I'm guessing it's just water being sucked up by the several feet of "topsoil" that extends towards the right, where the water comes from.

I'm standing on a clay hill and the other side (across) is also a clay hill. Towards the right it flattens out and it's about 6+ feet of a topsoil type dirt.

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Morning Joe,

I know its been a few years... Hows the pond? Did it settle and fill up? Curious how it worked out for ya, and if you did anything to fix along the way. Or if you just gave it time.

John
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Mike Otto explained it to me in terms that even I could understand:

Grab some moist dirt. Squeeze.

If when you open your fist it falls apart, it won't hold water well. frown

If it holds together, it will. smile

Last edited by anthropic; 02/26/15 06:40 PM.

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