Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Leak or not?

We finished building our new pond just as the cold weather hit this year. In fact, it was snowing like mad the day we pulled the equipment out.

Everything was going very well, then suddenly we lost about 4 feet of water in the matter of a week or two.

One theory regarding the water loss is that the pond was filling over top of the frozen ground. The water loss was at the same time we had a warm spell for a week. Do you guys think that there is a chance that since the pond filled on frozen ground and then we had a thaw, the unsaturated soil sucked up the water?

The water level went up 6" last week.

Thanks.

To me, losing 4' in a week is excessive, but having ground frozen/thawed, I'm not sure. Time will tell.

How was the pond basin compacted? (equipment used, technique) and what kind of dirt did you have to work with?

The soil is a high percentage clay. We did not encounter any rock to speak of below about 4 feet in depth. A series of test hole were dug the year before and held water for the entire year.

Compaction was accomplished from the hundreds of haul trucks that removed the excess clay during construction.

I put dye in the water today and if there is a leak, hopefully it will be easy to spot the blue snow on the backside of the dike.

To clarify, I am not sure if we lost the water in a week or a month. During the winter, access to the pond is limited, so it wasn't being closely monitored. The warm spell was a week.

The haul trucks should do a good job of compacting the soil where they drove multiple times, but I doubt that they drove all over the pond bottom repeatedly, compacting it.

Depending on the clay percentage, time will tell! I've got my fingers crossed.

Well, I put dye in the pond on Tuesday. Went up there today to check for blue snow and nothing and the water level went up 4" since I put the dye in.

Still crossing my fingers.

Could it be leaking into the banks through a sand or rock seam?

Dave,

It certainly could be, since some of the springs enter the pond below water level. Guess I didn't think of that.

We gained another inch and a half over the last three days, which is pretty close to what we have been averaging since I started monitoring it two weeks ago.

Seems to me that is pretty good considering the area we are currently filling. Guess I could do the math on the volume that we are gaining, but I already have a headache.

I'll continue to update if you continue to keep your fingers crossed.

Unfortunately springs don't have a one way valve on them. If the water pressure in the pond is greater than the water pressure in the spring, it will act as a drain.

Thanks for the good news esshup I guess its all a waiting game now.

Can or will the water pressure in the water table equal out eventually to the point where it will fill completely?

I feel your pain because my pond is a groundwater pond, and it is totally dependant on the amount of ground water or level of ground water. I can add water with the well, but once the ground water level starts dropping I can't keep the pond full with the current well at 25 gpm.

It's hard to say. Maybe yes, maybe no. But, I'd almost bet that it wouldn't stay full all year long if the groundwater levels fluctuate and that allows the springs to run in reverse.

My pond water level fluctuation:

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...true#Post330750

New update:

Looks like we are gaining an inch a day right now. I'll check on it again at the end of the week after this warm weather and rain passes by over the next couple days.

Went up and checked on the pond today. Up 8" since Friday. 13 more inches and it will be full and start to flow into the standpipe. Fingers still crossed though.

Since the last update, we put a one foot riser on the standpipe with plugs at 6" so we can raise or lower the pond as desired, or let out a higher volume of water during extreme conditions.

We have been experiencing a rise and fall sequence over the past month. It would go up a couple inches, then fall, then up, then fall.

Well, today it has officially reached full pool and is now flowing out the standpipe. Now to wait and see how far it falls when the weather straightens out.

Thanks for all the words of wisdom.

I had a similar situation with my new lake since last fall. It filled so quick(13 feet in 24 hours) then it fell (4-5 feet in a week). Then it would raise with with every rain and fall less each time. Now it is staying near full pool all the time. I think it just needed to totally saturate the ground and that takes months. Time will tell and I wish you the best.