Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Pond #1

Aw, crud. I was sure I had pics of my anti-seep collar installation, but I don't. I have about 130 photos saved from the day we put it in, but none of the collars! In my defense, I can only state that it is hard to work a shovel and a digital camera simutaneously while avoiding being struck by a trackhoe.

Maybe this diagram will help a little bit:

IIRC, the collar frames were placed snug against the back (downhill) side of the 4' slots dug into the trench the draintile was layed in. This way, when the slots are back filled and compacted with a jumping jack, the front (water) side of the anti-seep collar has compacted clay pressed up tight against it.

I can think of two other "tips" my excavator emphasized during construction. He had set aside a pile of what was judged to be the best clay we had available, and used it for backfilling and compacting the drain trench through the dam core. And we carefully cut perfectly round wholes in the rubber collar sheets using scissors, 1" less in radius than the smaller diameter of the corrugated plastic drain pipe. Cut in this manner, the sheets are much less apt to tear than if cut by a knife (which is how we did it on my first pond, and I spent a couple of hours repairing a torn sheet as best I could with cable ties and silicone seal).

My apologies to Chris Steelman and Jim Secen for the lack of pictures I thought I could deliver.