Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Brand new pond question

We've recently had a 1.5 acre pond dug. We received 3 inches of rain the day after digging was done. Unfortunately, we weren't able to properly compact the clay because the pond began to fill and our build insisted there was no way the pond would leak. He said if it leaks he would come back and re line the bottom. Therefore, I figured we'd test the pond and see how it holds. It's about an average depth of a foot across a surface area of an acre. Maximum depth of about 3 feet around the dam.

My question is, if we loose about an inch of water over a 3 day span is that normal? I understand all ponds leak to some extent and we will have some evaporation. Could this be mostly the soil becoming "water logged" and the leak will slow. Or is that leak not so bad? Or will this leak become excessive as the pond fills and pressure builds? Also, the pond is located in the east texas heat.

Just looking for some expierence/advice before we take the next step in our dreams. Thanks for the time and consideration!

-cav

We had similar thing happen to our pond. We had 8" of rain before they were finished. They cut dam and let out 8' of water in a 5ac pond to finish. Even after they finished and it now has 10' in it you can see bubbles coming up after 10 months they told me that as you said the ground all around the pond has to saturate. I don't see any water leaking behind the dam at all cause they put a "core" of packed clay in the dam. If it was built right it shouldn't leak. Evaporation can be a lot up where I am, depending what depth to surface ratio is
Good luck and good fishing


Pat

Cav, that's a pretty insignificant amount for even an established pond during a Texas summer. Evaporation takes a toll. There are charts somewhere to determine those amounts at certain temps.

However, what you are mostly experiencing is water from the pond wicking back into dry soils. Technically, the wicking really never stops.

I'm going through the same thing with my "new" 1.5 acre pond. Actually it's about 15 years old but had just about dried up due to sustained drought. About 3 weeks ago, we got a rain of 8.75 inches and it caught a lot of water. During that 3 weeks it has dropped 8 to 10 inches due to wicking and evaporation. Two other smaller ponds have done about the same thing.

BTW, ALL ponds leak to some extent.

The water is definitely wicking because the shore lines are wet about 3 feet above the actual water line. Therefore, I'm assuming the dry soil is pulling the water out to some extent.

Yeah, don't sweat it.