Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Leaking Berm

So as part of my pond build I had my contractor construct me a 3/4 acre area that I can flood for duck hunting in the fall. I pump water out of my lake into this field and then at the end of the season I can open a valve and the water will drain back into my lake. Unfortunately, I noticed a leak under my drain pipe. My drain pipe is just 3" PVC and I did use two anti seep collars. The pipe was initially set too low and the contractor had to dig it out of the berm and raise it up. I suspect that when he did that he didn't do a good job compacting the ground (he was definitely in a rush to finish at the end). Will any of the polymer sealants work in this scenario? The water in this area is only around 30-36" deep, so not a lot of pressure. Also are there any other cheap fixes I can try? Fortunately, where this leak is the water just goes back into the lake and then it looks like every 3 weeks or so I will have to get the pump out again to top off my field.

Follow up question, we have the same scenario where we built berms near a creek to pump into during duck season. Despite the soil being fairly heavy clay, the berms leak like crazy. After pumping water in almost all the water is gone in a matter of a week. This soil has much more rock in it, so I just suspect that there are probably a few areas where the berms don't have enough clay content to be effective. Is it worth dumping some polymer into this situation or would it just be a giant waste of money?

I am NOT an expert, but there have been numerous cases reported on Pond Boss where digging up a pipe through the dam has subsequently created a leak through the dam.

IMO, it is easier to compact everything together as you build up the dam. When you cut through the dam to replace a pipe section, it is difficult the knit and seal your compacted back fill to the original dam material.

I will now speculate on a second topic for which I am NOT an expert! If your construction guys did a pretty good job on back filling and compacting after the pipe job, you may be close to achieving a seal. Based solely upon my reading on Pond Boss, the sealant technologies do have a good chance of success when your leak path is "almost" sealed.

You might try contacting TJ about his products (read some of the sealing threads for his info). He is also one of our best leak experts.

As for your leaky berms near the creek, I suspect it would be much less likely to fix your leaks cost effectively with polymer. Once you have enough rocks in the fill to create point-to-point contacts between the rocks, then that material can NOT be sealed by compaction equipment. The rocks effectively spread the compaction force and protect the underlying material from being sealed.

In those areas, after you get past the mixed clay-sand-rock layers do you get down to good, clean clay? I have contemplated a similar project on my farm, and wondered if you could get a cheap seal using a pond liner? For a shallow berm, you could do 6' wide roll of liner up to some significant lengths with no seams. Cut a steep wall with your equipment and then anchor the bottom edge of the liner in the clay layer and then anchor the top edge at the surface. I think that might create a very effective 3' tall berm that would be perfectly sealed.

Just thinking out loud about your problems. Good luck on your fixes, and have fun duck hunting this season!

Thanks for the reply. It does sound like potentially my current leak at my place may be better suited for the polymer if I can get it at a decent price. I'm hoping that I can do an application right where the leak is that will hopefully solve it and then maybe keep some in back stock in case I get another leak in the future. I will be drying out and tilling the dirt within this berm each year so I think there's a good chance of it maybe coming back the next year if I disturb the soil too much.

As for the other spot next to the creek. Really good info that actually makes a lot of sense. There are ponds fairly close to the creek that hold water just fine, however as we got closer to the creek I think the rock to clay ratio shifted dramatically in favor of more rock. We don't currently have a lot of money invested in this project, but if we were to do something it sounds like we may need to harvest better clay from elsewhere on the property and then use it to line the berms for a better seal.

The difficulty of achieving a seal with compacted clay is strongly affected by hydrostatic pressure. If you are impounding water by the creek that is only 3 feet deep, then you don't have much hydrostatic pressure that is constantly trying to push through your clay.

Do you get down to a good clay layer at depth within the basin of your ponds by the creek? If so, there is a chance you could doze/excavate clay out of that spot and put a blanket seal on your berm, and not worry about the rocks in the core of the berm. For a 3 foot deep pond, there is a good chance that a single 6 inch lift of clay that is well compacted would seal the pond.

Of course, the thinner you go, the higher likelihood that animals digging, plant roots digging, etc. will eventually work their way through your clay blanket. If you have the equipment out to do 6 inches of clay blanket, then you could probably do one or even two more lifts for not that much additional cost - especially if you have the clay material nearby.

P.S. If you are letting your duck ponds go dry for part of the year, then you do NOT want 100% clay for your seals. Pure clay will dehydrate and shrink during extended dry periods and cause cracks in your berm seals. I think silty, sandy clay with about 30-35% clay content would probably hold up best for your application. Just make sure it is well mixed during the transportation and spreading process. (However, that specific advice about optimal clay content is outside of my area of expertise. You might check Mike Otto's book to see if he addresses that problem.)

Hey Centex I help folks nationwide with Pond Construction, rehab, and leak abatement issues and my time is always free to my Pond Boss family. Feel free to reach out anytime so I can learn more about your situation and offer some insights.

tj@hudlandmgmt.com