Another problem I am seeing is the excavaor weighs 45,000 lbs .. we tried very hard during construction to keep the tracks off the centerline of the dam (directly over the pipe) so as not to jepordize the integrity of the structure with excessive weight.
My read on this is that the center of your dam, the weakest point, has NO integrity!
Mike Otto could say from experience, but if you have more than a couple feet of clay/dirt over the pipe, it NEEDS to be compacted with at least the tracks. I'm getting more worried for you the more you describe the building of the dam.
A four foot lift can't be compacted adequately to seal the dam or to bind the soils for strength. It needs to be in 6-12 INCH lifts.
I'm not trying to be a worrier here, but I'd hate to have you post in a couple months that your pond won't fill.....or worse yet, that it DID fill and the dam burst a week later!
