Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Pond Leakage (Trees on back of dam)

I bought my property and built a house on 30 Acres in 1996 which had an existing 1 Acre+- pond. Not knowing any different I allowed the existing trees to grow on the back of the dam which are about 30-40 feet from the surface water. Some of the trees now are 18"-24". The pond was already stocked with bass and bluegill and my family enjoyed fishing, camping, etc. The pond never dropped below 2 feet even in summer droughts until about 2 years ago when it started not holding water. It loses about 3/4 of surface water. I don't know if the trees are my problem. I live in NE Alabama and have tried several times contacting the State Soil and Conservation to come and show me what I should do to correct the pond but have had no luck. Should the back of the pond dam be completely clear of trees and what other measures should I take to find the cause? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hey MB I answered some of this in your other post about your trees. Now as to why your losing so much water? It could be a number of things. Trees maybe being one of them. Lets see what others have to say.

P.S. Here is one other stat a lot of folks don't realize.

A 50 foot Pine or Oak tree and suck up to 50 plus gallons of water a day!!

Ok so times that by 15 trees... That's 750 gallons of water a day sucked up the trees. Plus you lose about 1/4 inch in evaporation a day in the summer and bingo before you know it your down 2 feet!!! Not sure if that's your problem just throwing it out there!

Good Luck
RC

MB, welcome to the forum!!! By the "back" of the dam, do you mean the excavated dirt itself, or the dry side base of the dam? Tree roots will spread under the ground as far as the tree's drip line (outer circumference)..so if your tree's leaves are over the pond water, it's roots are that far also. Does the backside, base of the dam stay wet long after surrounding soil has dried? Dig down a foot or so and compare moisture levels with soils dug away from and above your pond.

Is there a chance construction upstream took away a lot of your runoff?

Thanks for replies. The trees are on the backslope and base of dam. I don't think their canopy reaches to the water. I was thinking of trying to removers remove with trackhoe. I Will add pics in the next few days.

[img]http://http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn20/bakerls1/POND%20PICTURE%202_zpsba3kosal.jpg?t=1428085473[/img]


Here are some pictures of my pond. This is the first time I have used photobucket. I did not see where I could add attachments. We have had a lot of rain and it is usually lower than this. I have read about adding pigs to the pond area but I have also read that adding pigs might affect the fish later. I would like to take the trees out with a chainsaw. I have not lost any runoff.