I thought I would look around the net for some friendly and more knowledgeable advice, 'cause frankly I don't know what I am doing - think I found the right place.
The pond itself is about an acre, and is about 23 years old. It sits adjacent to a creek that the leak is draining into. I suspect the pond was much deeper years ago, but it has tons of sediment build and in most places is only a few feet deep before you hit boot eating muck of depth yet to be determined. I also know that a former owner trying to thwart muskrats decided to sink some metal siding into the bank between the pond and the creek. Odd thing though is that they bent it into a trough shape which only extends about three feet down - not really effective.
That is about all I know about its history, we didn't come on the scene until recently. The leak was much smaller and well hidden last year, but with this early spring weather and ice melt it has made itself abundantly obvious. With springs rains approaching it either needs some sort of temp fix or it is, I fear, going to create its own spillway through the damn and completely drain the pond.
The leak has the appearance of maybe a tree root that died forming the initial hole, but with overflow has created a much larger hole above - both of which run down into the bank and finds its way into what I believe was an old drain tile judging from the pieces of ceramic tile where the water is flowing out into the creek from the very bottom of the bank.
So the question, before we get to the images, what if anything can be done to fix this, temporary or permanent. I have access to a midsize loader/backhoe and have almost cleared a path through the trees that will allow me to get it there. Can I fill the hole? If so with what. Should I drain below the leak level and dig the entire area up and redo? Can I block the leak with something - liner maybe? Do a little dance and pray? All ideas welcome, and thanks in advance.
I posted a video of the leak for your viewing, and will embed some pictures below.
The vid is here For those of you that watching the vid the opening is a quick pan of the larger area of the pond from east to west. Then it shows the area where the water is exiting on the pond side (that channel didn't exist last fall). Then you can see the small hole that looks like a tree root cavity[?]. Then you can see the dark area where a hole about 10 times the size of the small one is - aprox a foot above the smaller one in the bank. Then above that you can see some of the buried metal siding, and some erosion below it too from prior flooding. Then I climb up the bank and peer over the side into the creek where the water is exiting at the very bottom of the creek. Then a look back down the bank towards the pond.
And some still photos as well:
A view of the north bank.
Closer to the leak
The pathway of the leak
The smaller hole in the bank
Hard to see, but the larger hole is here
Smaller area of the pond, you get an idea of where the old high water levels were
