Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? impending dam disaster

I have been trying to fix a leaky pond for 5 years. I paid a lot of money to dig out the back side of the dam down as deep as we could go and rebuilding it from the backside. While it may have helped some it was basically a waste of money.

This year I bit the proverbial bullet and drained a 2.14 acre pond that was 17 feet at the dam and raised the bottom 3 feet using clay mixed with bentonite in 6" lifts compacting each lift with a 12 ton sheepsfoot roller.

My pond is spring and watershed fed as well so it is taking a long time to fill up. I am quite sure that the bottom is now sealed correctly doing it this way. I do still have water going into the overflow from somewhere and leaving at 12 GPH but that is another subject.

Bottom line is I feel like I wasted a lot of money and time trying to fix the pond from the back because I didn't want to drain it. It didn't work and I wouldn't advise anyone else to do it now. I feel strongly that leaks should be addressed from the water side and if that involves draining and starting over you will probably come out ahead in the long run.

Best of luck.