Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Leaking Pond/Overflow Pipe Help!

I have an approximately 0.6 acre, 70-year-old farm pond that appears to be leaking. The property is new to me, but I've been told the water level is lower than it was a couple months ago and that it was only a maximum of around 3' to begin with. I'm guessing the overflow pipe is the problem because it's definitely seen better days. It's rusted to the point of crumbling in my hands, there's a steady trickle coming out the end of it, and when I shine a light in the intake side, I can see a bunch of sediment in there that I believe is fully blocking it off. I tried attaching a video of the trickle coming out of the outflow, but the file was too large. It's similar in volume to if you turned your faucet on just enough for there to be a steady trickle and not intermittent drops of water.

I'm guessing the whole pipe needs replacing, but I'd love any and all advice y'all may have. I'd especially love any advice that offers a cheaper solution than replacing the entire overflow pipe! If there's some kind of patch or workaround, that would be great.

Side note in case it influences things... the pond also needs dredging eventually. It's got quite the buildup of muck, but we don't have the money to dredge it right now.

Thank you for any and all help! I've never managed a pond before and I'm in over my head!

looking at the end of the pipe sticking into the pond, I wish I had better news for you, but that will have to be replaced, and waiting much longer to do it could be counter productive, I've replaced a few that were in that condition.

When you say you have water trickling out of the end, is it coming out of the pipe or around the pipe?

The reason your pond is lower then normal, which is really obvious in the picture, is because you way more then likely have a hole rusted into the pipe below the current water level, but still inside the pond, that is allowing water to escape 24/7.

It is, however, much cheaper to replace it now when your water is a bit low, then it will be if you have a huge rain event and have a much bigger failure, like washing out a sinkhole, or a good portion of your dam, than you will have to import clay to replace the missing dirt in your dam.


Either way, Good Luck! hopefully it wont be too expensive to replace.

Sorry to hear about the leak.

Unfortunately, there are probably no cheap solutions. However, if you are going to spend money to fix it, then you might consider spending a bit of extra money and making massive improvements.

What are your goals for the pond? Three feet of depth might just make a goldfish pond, but not much more than that.

Is your pond filled from surface run-off? If so, does it have an adequate watershed to keep it full?

I am asking because it would be nice to drain the pond during your driest period and then have it re-fill during the next batch of rains.

Work would be to have an excavator cut your dam and remove the existing leaking pipe. Install a new pipe with anti-seep collars and tamp it in with clay. Then you need to compact some clay-rich material in lifts to repair your cut. This needs to be done properly because it is a little bit difficult to get the repaired section to knit well with the edges of the old dam.

While you have the excavator on site, you could remove the existing muck in the pond to gain some depth. You might even be able to deepen the pond - if it naturally bottoms in a clay layer. If your "bottom" was constructed to provide a seal, then you cannot excavate through that seal to deepen the pond, unless you re-seal the pond.

P.S. There is one possible "poor boy" solution. That would be to fill your existing outlet pipe with concrete and then install a siphon system for your new outlet.

I would get a water pump and some small diameter pipe and try to wash out your outlet pipe from both ends. If successful, then pump a lot of water from the pond down the pipe for a final flush. Cut back the downstream end until you get to solid enough pipe to effectively install a plug. Then fill the pipe with concrete from the pond side. I would rent a concrete vibrator with the longest reach possible.

If the existing leak path of your pond is rust holes in the pipe with water entering the holes near the inlet, then that fix MIGHT work. If there are holes in the pipe in the middle of the dam, and water exits the pipes and leaks out through the dam material, then that method will not work.

Congrats on your new pond. Good luck on your repairs!

Ditto to what was said. That pipe is toast and there is no "fixing" it. If you had a dam and enough fall behind it a siphon system could be installed. If not, then the only option is drain, remove/replace. I wouldn't even tr to fill or plug it in that instance. If that were to leak around the plug, then you'd be back to square one again and have to spend the $$ all over again to rip it out.

If the pond does have a dam, then you have more work ahead of you and a lot of knee time praying in the future. ALL the trees on the dam that are smaller than 6" DBH need to be cut/killed and any that are over 6" DBH need prayers that they never die as long as you own the property. If the >6" DBH trees die, there is a possibility that when the roots decay the water might find a path of least resistance to go through the dam and leak water out of the pond. Even possibly causing a dam failure (worst case).

I super appreciate all the help. Y’all are quick to respond too!

@gehajake
When I say water is trickling out of the end, I do mean it’s coming out of the pipe. So there must be a hole somewhere in the pipe.

@FishinRod
My goals for the pond are to keep it for wildlife habitat and personal enjoyment. I’ve read that having a pond any shallower than 8’ isn’t great in terms of pond health and wildlife habitat. I just don’t have it in the budget to dredge it right now. It sounds like I’m going to have to scrounge up some money to do some major repairs though!

The pond is filled with surface run-off and I believe the watershed is large enough to keep it full. I’m told it has historically. So draining the pond and letting it re-fill is probably an option.

Thanks for the “poor boy” solution! I’ll have to get some quotes on how much it would cost to do the job more thoroughly and see if I want to gamble on whether filling the pipe with concrete would work.

@esshup
The pond does have a dam and it is VERY overgrown. It really hasn’t been maintained at all. I’m definitely in fingers crossed none of the larger trees die territory!


Thank you again for all the advice!

I feared replacing it was pretty much the only option. I feel better having multiple people who know what they’re talking about confirm it though. I’m going to look into how much it would cost to completely replace the pipe, and if the numbers are higher than I can stomach, maybe look into the siphon system.

If you just have a rust hole you might be able to fix it with a patch. Locate it, clean the pipe as best you can, get some fiberglass mesh, pack it liberally with splash zone epoxy, and slap that sucker on like in those flex seal commercials. It works better if you apply it underwater!

Not a permanent fix obviously but it will outlast the rest of the pipe.

ETA: to make it last longer you could coat the whole exposed part of the pipe with splash zone. It's not cheap but not that expensive either.

Oh, yeah, depending on the size you might be able to fix it temporarily with a fernco. They make them in pretty darn big sizes and they are very cheap.

ETA: you could even replace the rotten end and join them with a fernco. In all likelihood the part of the pipe that's been continuously underwater and/or underground is going to be in much better shape.

@ 70 years old, he probably has to put a Fernco along the whole thing. The whole thing is probably paper thin.