Background:
3/4 acre spring fed pond in the bottom of a very steep draw was completed in fall of 04. Dam was cored with the best possible on-site fill material and appears to be solid. Balance of pond contained questionable soil, but it was hoped that inflow from the springs would offset this problem. Part of the upper pond area was somewhat marshy where the spring flow meandered and disappeared. Looking back after three years of reading Pond Boss that was obviously a bad sign, but at the time we thought it was the perfect area. Pond was completed in late Sept 04, full in November 04 and flowed out the standpipe until early June 05. By late June and through Sept pond dropped around one inch per day. Was under half full when fall rains began refilling and by Jan 06 it was flowing out the pipe again. No visable leaks were ever found. Summer 06 was a repeat of the previous year with the pond overflowing til late May when it resumed the steady fall.

So far:
I cut the standpipe off in late fall last year at the low point so the pond would not refill over the winter. At present pond has about 4 feet of water at the deepest point. Hope to drain it completely in the next month. When its dry I will remove all of the remaining fish structure.

The plan:
Original builder is a reputable dozer man and family friend. He has pledged to help any way possible. He is looking for nearby quality clay that we can have for little or nothing. Plan to haul in clay and line the lower 2/3 of the pond basin. I have a CDL and can drive his dump truck so I'm hoping to save some $ that way. Dozer man will then fill in/smooth a channel and some humps that I had him build/leave originally, then spread the clay. I can then rent a sheepsfoot roller for a day and pack the snot out of it repeatedly.

Potential problems:
1. Cost - Must find nearby clay for cheap or nothing to avoid high cost of hauling dirt.
2. Marshy upper part of pond area. When we were building the pond we actually hit a spring in the uppper end that we thought would help with the inflow. When it started dropping I was originally afraid that it was leaking out the marshy area or that the spring was working in reverse. However, when the pond dropped below the marshy area and spring level the rate of drop did not change. In fact, the rate of drop never changed as the pond got lower and lower.

OK Pondbossers, what have I left out? What else do I need to do?