Betonite acts as insurance in marginal soils with some clay. Applying and incorporating bentonite requires experience. Choose the contractor wisely after good homework. IMO bentonite is most important where the clay liner is the thinnest and on the bottom where the greatest water head pressure is located. Remember just compacting soil lifts with weight is not inter-knitting the two layers together. Water under pressure can push its way through two compacted sheets of soil esp in marginal soil with low clay composition. All a pond needs for a leak to occur is to have just one relatively small area with low weakly compacted clay. Sometimes it takes several years for a leak to fully develop. Shore damage due to animal digging activity, wave action, or erosion can encourage the leak to fully establish itself. Two feet of compacted clay is not very thick when it comes to having shoreline tunneling animals present.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/06/14 12:14 PM.
