1 acre pond like many others built with dozer only. Pond initially filled but several holes appeared in bottom allowing water to drain and reappear on back side of dam. Dam was cored when built well below pond bottom. Pond was built by placing the dam at bottom of field in sort of a ravine. As we see it our next step is redoing with compaction which leads me to my question. I prepared a bucket test. I drilled between 15 and 20 3/8" holes in the bottom of the bucket with 2" of small gravel in the very bottom. I went into the very bottom of the pond where no fine material had washed into it, removed enough dirt that once compacted with a post tamper I had a layer 5" to 6" thick of compacted soil. The bucket has sat for 3 full days now and it appears I have lost around 1/2" or right under of water. What is an acceptable level of loss, not sure how much was soaked up by the dirt, how much evaporated, or how much has seeped through.Do I need to set another full bucket of water beside it to check evaporation rates? The bucket is setting in the shade under a carport. There is wetness on the bottom of bucket but it isn't dripping out. My plan is if this bucket test seems to do ok I am going to have all the fines that have washed into the dry pond skimmed off then 3 more feet of dirt dozed out and then packed back in with a sheepsfoot in layers. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Last edited by Medic828; 09/02/19 09:52 AM.