My construction of a 1/2 acre pond has been a disaster and costly. I just want it finished.
I planned to put the pond in the downward slope between 2 hills with a damn on the downhill side. Seemed easy. I dug some sample holes and found the top 2 feet to be sand then clay, on the downhill side, but the uphill side was sand then stone, to the point where I couldn't dig deeper than 3ft and it was like concrete.
So my plan was to start the pond a bit lower from the uphill side where I could get about 3ft of water after lining with clay from the downhill side.
After digging out the trees and roots down to solid clay ( about 5ft) on the downhill side I began to fill in that 5ft x 20ft trench with clay from inside the pond area. I continued to elevate that with clay to about 20ft for my levee, spreading thin and packing as I went. Thats 20ft from the inside of the pond because I was getting the clay from the inside of the pond. The outside of the levee from natural ground is about 10ft.
From constructing this levee, I've used all my usable clay. I have none left to line my pond to seal it. The deeper I got in the clay area, the more rocks I found and what I'm guessing was compacted clay. It was flaky but I could snap them by hand. About 2ft of water is staying against my levee on the lowest side. It will get higher with rain, then fall back to that 2ft. We have been getting rain about once a week.
Its been 2 months since I stopped construction because I ran out of money for the project. I'm ready to get back on it but want some guidance. Obviously I picked the wrong location, but I have to make it work now. I've done the bucket test on the soils. The clay holds water until it evaporates, but the sandy areas won't hold water over night.
Whats my best plan of action next? Should I haul in clay to finish lining it. How deep to line it with clay? Mix in chemicals to form a seal?
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Last edited by swampsnyper; 02/17/17 10:43 AM.