Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations dam slip

my pond is 6 months old it is almost full , we had heavy rain over the weekend , the back side of my dam slipped the slip is about 30 yards long . half of the top of my dam sunk 2 ft the half on the back side i am trying to get the water level down by cutting stand pipe 6 inches at a time. im afraid it is going to break what all could have caused this my pond builder is on vacation cant get ahold of him any ideas of what to do so this doesnt happen again.

One of the experts will likely jump in soon. I'm guessing the dirt wasn't the right type (clay / other soil mix), or it wasn't properly compacted (moisture / weight / etc.), it was too great a slope, or something. All I can say is that I feel for you. My main pond dam done by professionals is also about six months old and nearly full. So far, so good.

The one mini-dam (sediment basin) that I personally completed before weather prevented more has also slipped a bit. It isn't big and the drawbar on the 4-wheel drive tractor pulling the scraper broke at start of weekend so we did it with dump truck and trackhoe. I'm sure my mini-dam wasn't packed as well as it should have been. It also had a pretty steep slope. Was going to improve it some, but rains and work... I still will improve it this summer...

Good luck with your pond and let us know how it goes.

Hosty,
Incomplete compaction will be an issue for your dam. Typical reasons are..too little moisture during compaction, improper ratios of clay to erodable soils such as sand. Those are reasons your dam could sink as much as two feet.
Regarding sloughing, that's due to steep slopes, no vegetation to hold loose soils, or improperly compacted soils, or any combination of these factors.
Get in touch with your contractor as soon as possible. Unless he made you aware of these issues during construction, he should be held responsible, and take care of the problem before it becomes worse.
Be aware, this problem won't heal. It should be dealt with, quickly.

bob, my contractor has been notified . he is in florida for the winter . i dont think we could fix untill summer when things dry up. only thing i know to do is get most of the water out in case of a total break. i dont know what else to do.

has anyone else had a major problem like this with a new pond?

Bob hit on all the topics also dirt was not compacted in layers also was dirt partially frozen or water logged clay and humus used for damm.Exessive slope on outer bank best thing to do is drain pond and fix in spring if seal key was not properly installed at base of damm this could also be a problem. With the cold weather we have now useless to try to repair. Suggest you maybe get another opinion from local dirt man and compare notes when your man comes back from florida.