Steve,
I think you misuderstood. The pond is only 9 feet deep and is entirely clay although the banks drops off quite rapidly. It has some seepage at the bottom but not enough to lower the water level much even when the well is not running.
The well itself is about 100 feet uphill and then the water flows through a 4 inch pipe to the trout pond. When I spoke of the gravel layer etc. I was speaking of the well not the pond.
