Tough decisions ahead for you BigPond.
Just my two cents worth. If it was me, I would do some ground work/sealing first. Reason being is that your pond is close to empty, so that makes it like starting all over. Why fill it up now (at a monthly cost ), drain it and do work later to seal it. I agree with them above that you want a good water source, and you know now that runoff isn't enough. So I think you will need to do the pump anyway. I personally don't like the idea of needlessly losing water when you are paying for it.
BigPond, Is the current water level stabilized? And if so, is there a place around that water's edge that looks like it is seeping? Have you been able to get anybody there to look at the situation?
Yes it is a TOUGH decision. The thing I am trying to figure is... Am I really loosing THAT much water????
As I had in the other post. For the past two years we have had 74 inches of rain and according to research we have had 110 inches of evaporation. It would stand to reason that I should be down 3 feet due to evaporation, in stead of 10 feet!
But lets reason here... I am not loosing an inch a day, The dam was VERY Well built with a GOOD core(keyway). But when I don't really have much coming in or very little then the amount of seepage i have is working against me. But here is the thing I keep hereing, "All pond have some seepage" becuase al dirt seeps water. I can tell you this lake does not have anymore seepage then any other ponds I have studied this size.
