Hi Brad

First off, welcome to the pond boss forum! Sorry your first post had to focus on such a dubious topic. Many of us have been there, however - and you're getting some great outside the box solutions offered thus far.

Few thoughts/questions:

I am wondering how aggressive the leak is - have you measured the water loss daily during dry periods? I have ponds with varying degrees of seepage, and truly all ponds leak, to some extent. If you're only losing a couple inches weekly, living through the loss between rain events is worth considering VS. spending thousands trying to address. It works for me, and many others - we simply live with a couple feet drawdown every Summer.

I do not recall many, if any, forum posts where bentonite has worked to seal a seeping pond. The best solution in my mind would be to work 24" clay over the limestone area which appears to be the source of the leak. If clay is available, this is the most cost effective and permanent solution to the seep. Obviously if the cost of sourcing clay is prohibitive, one needs to consider other options.

Lastly - were I in your shoes, I would hand over my project to THE Mike Otto. He's down near Whitesboro, and consults anywhere in the US. He's an owner of Pond Boss along with Bob Lusk, and is the best pond construction mind in the business today. Let us know what he has to say - he'll be familiar with the soils out your way and availablitly of clay.

Mike Otto
mikeotto@ottosdirtservice.com
940.736.5333

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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