I recently built a 1/4 acre pond and a new house on my great grandparents old homestead, started from scratch and only encountered solid clay on construction of the pond,basement , and 8 ft deep 250 ft trench for footing drain to a ravine. Since it was an old homestead there were a few old waterlines and some clay tile we discovered digging the pond and the ditch for footing tile to go in ……the footing tile to the ravine is solid pipe …..all was good until the pond got nearly full, my sump pump was running every 10-15 minutes and footing tile was running a decent amount of water. (5 gallon bucket placed under footing tile drain fills in about 10-20 minutes depending on if we have any rainfall and how high the pond is) Pond drops about 2.5 inches a week. I remembered where one of the clay tiles were in the pond and was able to dig it about 15 ft from the pond and broke through it and hydraulic cemented it shut. By the next morning sump pump was hardly running and it took 40 minutes for a bucket to fill placed under footing tile. It got better for the next week or so until we got a big rain and pond filled back up, it didn’t get as bad as originally but I feel I still have pond water making it’s way to the house. Any advice as to finding the problem? I previously witched along the pond and marked several “lines” and dug and only a few were actually lines

Sorry for the long explanation, also wanna note that I dug parallel with the pond bank for 50 ft or so 7 feet deep and plan on digging the remaining 60 feet on the same bank between the house and pond to see if I can find anything else

You could potentially dig a LOT of holes and trenches trying to find your problem. An old location with lots of human pipes and artifacts under the ground is a nightmare to track.

Is your footing drain from the house to the ravine a large diameter pipe or is it a gravel-packed trench?

If it is a pipe, I would attempt to solve the problem by making an anti-seep "collar" or obstruction around the pipe. You might be able to block the flow of water to your basement from your underground source WITHOUT having to locate the source.

Perhaps dig out your line at the edge of your yard (25-30' from your basement wall?) and pack in a 2-3 foot wide clay plug around the pipe. I would under-cut excavate the pipe 12-18" to make sure the clay was compacted under the pipe plus any deeper as required in the trench to make sure there were no sand or gravel layers that could still be connected to your water leak source.

If your footing drain is gravel the whole way, then I would run a perforated pipe and sock at your house and then transition to solid pipe. Run the solid pipe to a distance similar to what I described above, and then follow the same procedure to seal the trench to your basement away from the leak.

(I may not be understanding you situation correctly from your brief description above. If I am wrong, then hopefully I gave you some ideas that might help in your actual situation.)

Good luck on getting your house and pond combination into a peaceful place!

Perforated around footing and then 4” sd35 solid to the ravine. I thought about your ideas and also thought about running a perforated Between the house and pond and draining it into the footing drain. But my worry is that I may make and “easy” path to the perforated tile and the pond leak will only get faster as it wears in a channel…..kind of thinking about digging parallel to the pond bank between house and pond 8 ft deep in search of the actual problem. Have already done that 1/2 way and found one clay tile that was part of my problem but it only made it half way better

The “lines” I have witched, I have dug 5 of the 9 on my first dig and only found 3 things

It's great that you were able to identify and seal off one of the clay tiles, which seemed to help initially. Since you're still experiencing issues after a big rain, there might be another source of leakage.Given that you've already tried witching and digging along the pond with limited success, you might consider bringing in a professional to assess the situation. A contractor with experience in drainage and water management could help identify any additional leaks and suggest solutions to prevent water from reaching your house. It's important to address this issue promptly to avoid any potential damage to your new home. By the way, that offer to Sell Your House Fast In Manchester caught my attention. It's always interesting to explore different avenues in real estate investing.

I would dig the rest of the way, at 7' deep, very small chance of them burying anything or any kind of field tile or drain deeper then that, you may find the culprit, other then that, as I understand your situation, I am not sure what could be the problem.

draining it into a perforated pipe that daylights to a drainage ditch would simplify the effects it will have on your house structure and fotting integrity but thats not solving your pond leaking issues.

Good Luck! let us know what you find.