Belkins,
I never have gotten around to measuring the output of my well. The drilling contractor told me I should get between 80 and 120 gpm. I want to add an extension to the discharge pipe from the well with a discharge pipe at about 8' so that I can fill a chemical tank. When I do that, I will be able to measure the discharge.
As for the bentonite, when all the water drained out we were able to identify a few spots (small sinkholes) where it was leaking. We purchased sacks of bentonite from a local lumber yard. We then spread it out on the very bottom and disked it in with a small tractor. We only put the bentonite in on the half of the pond that was leaking the fastest. On the other half, we did not do anything because it still had some water and all my remaining fish in it. I am confident that the pond still leaks. During these cold months, we are still running the well about about 30% of the time. This summer is going to be interesting. The soil was a real course clay and we were confident that we would not even need bentonite but obviously that was not the case.
I would like to add another pallet of bentonite to the pond this spring but I am not sure how effective the application would be with water already in the pond. One issue I am fighting is that we are currently in an extreme drought. As a result, I am getting no help from rain water and all the ground around the pond is extremly dry. There are cracks in the ground very close to the pond about 1.5" think and I know we are loosing a lot of water to absorbtion.
I created an Excel spreadsheet that calculates how much water is needed to keep a pond full. The spreadsheet factors surface acres, average depth and pump output. With all this info it reports the pumping hours per year required to keep the pond full. It assumes that the bottom of sealed off and there is no significant leakage. If anybody is interested in this, send to me your e-mail address and I will e-mail it to you
