Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Foolishly dug to ground water

Folks,
Ten years ago I dug a pond in a shallow open valley, closing of the low end with the reddish clay soil creating a dam. I always planned on a well to fill it.
Not knowing any better at the time I dug about two feet too far into the first water table and the water rose about 3 feet and stayed right there. I thought this was good.
I focused on other things for ten years and just this last fall had a well drilled. ( 40 gpm 290 ft rock well) I filled the pond in a month and a half and then turned the well off. As you all know where this is going, the pond rather quickly returned to that ground water level it was at for ten years. So now I will remove as much water as I can and add 2+ feet of clay from local gravel pit compacting in lifts.
There is about two feet of very very soupy clay muck in the bottom that obviously did nothing to stop the flow of water down.
Do I have to dig all that clay muck out or could I firm it with gravel and then do my new clay lifts on top of that?
Thanks in advance and I know this gets talked about a lot.
Jim

Hi Jim, welcome to pond boss - glad you found us. Someone will be along
shortly to get you headed in the right direction.

Welcome to Pond Boss Jim.

It depends on the nature of the muck. Best to clear the possible leak/GW seep area and pack with good clay. The weight/compaction of the clay will have to be greater than the WT pressure or it will do no good. That will be the key. Suggest engineering type help as moving clay/dirt is expensive so it needs to be done right the first time. That would include factoring in the WT info and the nature of the dirt/clay to be used.

I think Eric hit the nail on the head. Since clay should have the correct water content to compact well, I think having the soupy muck at the bottom would throw an unknown in the mix.

Thanks for the input. Sounds like I should remove all the muck. I just need to figure out how to break it to my wife that I need to spend a few more thousand bucks after I proclaimed that the well would be the last thing for the pond.
Thanks again.
jim

May I ask why you didn't just dig deeper into the ground water table and build a ground water type pond without the need for a dam and that expensive well?

It is kind of rolling land and I used a lower valley area. Not really any flat areas near.
Thanks,
jim

In hindsight though I do think about what it would have cost to move a lot more dirt around vs. cost of well and now repairs.

Yeah, hindsight . It haunts me too....

Same here Dwight. If I would have found PB a year earlier it would have saved me a bunch of $$ when I renovated my pond.

Me to as the last dam fix pre-PB was not done right and any fix attempt will be costly.

Jim - I just finished a pond and nearly made the same mistake. After digging at least 8 feet down into the clay the crew broke through into "sugar sand" and water springs started seeping into the pond. Pond Boss experts highly recommended that it be sealed before any more water got in there. The crew pumped the water out and put 2 tons of Betonite clay into the soil and then put a couple feet of clay over the top. Now we are waiting on the rain to fill the pond.

About 10 years ago I cleaned out a pond with a seep spring in the bottom. DUMB!! It was like pulling the plug in a bathtub. Now the small pond rises and falls with the level of the ground water. In my arid area that usually means that it is dry.

I have the local gravel pit guy lined up to deliver clay next late spring early summer. I have to work on getting a sheepsfoot roller lined up now.
Thanks for the input. Dave any plans to try and put the plug back in that pond?
jim

I've tried several times using both clay and bentonite. Neither has really worked. No big problem. The hogs have found it and the water from a recent rain is a nasty looking green.