Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Keyway drawings/pictures

Auburnbob, Auburnbob, I sincerely apologize. My friends just have 'cabin fever'.

Someone sent me that picture with the caption - Last known photo of Saddam's cat.

Now we have the cold hard proof. Brettski I knew all along that you were the low down pirate that stole the Furhead Wheel Chock from Dwight. But did you have to send a good old American Calico Cat to Saddam. I guess ole Furhead got her revenge by jerking the chair out from under him and swatting at his feet. He should have never tried to force Furhead to eat those sand rats.

ROFLOL !!!!

Auburnbob,

I sincerely appologize for my fellow forums members. All you did was post a well forumed question with the expectation that you would receive an informative reply. And what happened? Your post was hijacked.

Please come back Bob we need more California members.

As for the rest of you consider yourselves reprimanded for callously hijacking Bob's post. There are a few members here like myself that NEVER hijack posts with doctored photos or off hand comments. You should feel shame and discomfort.

Speaking of discomfort that reminds me of a joke..

Two Redeared Sunfish, a Nun and a monkey go into a bar...

Thanks Jeff.

It does appear that my posting was hijacked.

There is some good information about force vectors, etc. from TN Hillbilly ... and, ewest about the value of a keyway/core trench (i.e. reducing the chance of sheer pressure being reached ... and chance of leak/break.

My leaks are through the dam (built without a keyway by the previous property owner). At this point, I think my options are: a) drain the pond and rebuild the dam with a keyway (expensive); b) line the pond with a pond liner material (expensive ... over $30K!); c) keep adding french drains to vector the leaks back to the spillway creek (moderately expensive - $5-10K); or d) do nothing and hope the leaks through the porous dam eventually seal up.

- Bob

Bob :

If you can id where the front side leaks are you could do a front side patch with good clay and some bentonite added in to the clay. This could be done with the pond lowered but not drained all the way. If so you may be able to save the fish. But it depends on iding the location of the leak. Since we high jacked the thread the least I could do is find a few similar threads below.

Fix it or forget it? http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000105;p=1

Soil tests in excavated pond http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000140#000001

Pelletized Bentonite vs. granular? http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000050

Repairing Dam leaks from the backside http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000079

Water leaking under Dam. Pics http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000081#000003


Agacultural Lime to stop leaking? http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=001716#000003

Pond Leaking should I worry? http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=001522#000001

I think I am gonna jump off my dam - sprung a leak http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=001709

Auburnbob,
As the head buffoon, charged with master-minding the hi-jack, please allow me to offer a little help with additional core input and some pix. I started this thread when I ran into some issues with core application and execution. Core (keyway) thread

I think that draining and putting in a good core could be your least expensive of the three choices you mention.

is the base of dam/berm leaking at all, or are all leaks emanating at various points up on the berm?

as i mentioned in my first post, if the leaks are up in the berm (and not beneath it), you have another less costly option of simply repacking and grooming the inside side of dam face. non keywayed dams/berms can work fine in many situations depending on the geology etc..

also, i've seen several non keywayed dams that seep slowly at the base, but not enough to cause fatal summer drawdowns, particularly if you have supplemental summer water (i.e. small creek, spring, well etc.).

Thanks to Eldorado dave and ewest for some good info.

I believe the leaks are through the dam/berm ... at about a level five to six feet down from the top of the dam/berm. When I lower the pond level by five or six feet, the leaks slow way down and/or stop.

When I visited the website (http://www.cjnetworks.com/~sccdistrict/pond.htm)that JBL directed me on Jan 9th, I noticed that Ref. line #3 states that lack of a core trench (keyway) is the major reason why ponds leak. However, ewest's comments make alot of sense about the purpose/value of a keyway ... namely, to tie the dam to the soil substructure and prevent shear pressure from causing a dam failure.

I've already had the dam's surface packed with bentonite (one ton's worth) ... and, I added french drains at the points where the leaks emerge from the back side of the dam/berm. Now the leaks are occuring closer to the foundation of my house ... as we all know, water (under tons of hydrostatic pressure) will find a path of least resistance.

I've stopped working on the leaks for the winter. If I bring the pond level back up to full for the summer (so I draw water from it to irrigate my pastures) and if the leaks are still there, I may add more french drains near the foundation of the house to vector the water back to the spillway creek.

Later,

- Bob