Well. Here it is. The post we all hope never has to happen.

It's October and my pond is 1/10 full. The thing drained 90% from July to September.

Here's the story:

Bought a house, had previously had a pond in the backyard that the owner broke the damn and emptied. Turning the whole back into a giant mud bog from natural springs feeding 24/7.

I hired a family friend (mistake 1) to evaluate the area and help me renovate and expand the pond. He cleared a very cool (albeit shallow) pond and built a damn and assured me everything would be good. Big rains came and pond filled up. But never really stayed full. Kept losing fluctuating feet at a time.
Last July 2013 it went half empty. My family friend stopped answering phone calls and ignored me. I call a different family friend excavating company. He came out and looked at it, told me his plan and then I didn't see him till may of this year when the pond had filled back up. he dug test holes around the hills surrounding the pond, said that they were filled with shale and water running through the shale. but didn't look to be coming from pond.
This month he finally came back out and dug test holes all over and said damn is sound, but bottom of the pond is made up of a sandy rocky mixture not condusive to pond bottoms. Said I need a liner or a ton of clay. searched all over my property for clay and couldn't find any.

Fast forward to now. He sends me a bill and nothing further. I can't leave a half full mess in the back yard, from what was once a gorgeous Large Mouth Bass filled heaven. But I've been left high and dry and need some help.

I'll looking into the local gas well folks to maybe try and get a used pond liner...but I need a good reputable company to help me fix my mess of a pond. I want an oasis in the back yard, all I have is a giant mess of weeds and a deep end.

I'm bout 30 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Help.