Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Question, is this a Spring?

Lake is done, dug out, looks great. It's been done for a week. No Rain until today. This weekend while looking at lake bottom, I noticed 2 wet muddy spots that had not been there before, I walked every inch of the bottom (only about an acre in size)

The wet spots had not been there before, they are about 2 feet apart, each mud spot is about 3' long, 2' wide. One spot was not only wet/slightly muddy, but had a little spot of standing water, about the size of a quarter. Since it has been dry as a bone the last week, could this be a Spring? If so, is this good news? I'm thinking it is, should help the lake fill up faster, correct?

PL, a spring can giveth or taketh away, depending on it's head.

If it just rained today, hopefully it is where the water settled.

Good luck!

pl,
it could also just be the water table. robinson is very much correct that if it is a spring, it could serve as a conduit to drain the pond once the weight of the pond water acts on it.

if its the water table, the weight of the pond water may or may not drive flow out of the pond, but you'd be smart to dig down and evaluate the thickness of yer pond bottom clay and determine if a coarser grained soil exits beneath there (i.e. gravel, sand, or silt). The coarser grained soils will leak. as the substrate of yer pond, you want that pond bottom clay to be thick (at least 6-inches) and extremely well compacted.

the only time a gw aquifer or spring will help you in the bottom of a pond is if the upward pressure exceeds the pressure caused by the weight of the water you put on it.

Not Sure, the whole pond was CLAY, CLAY and more CLAY. Very Hard, nearly like concrete. Everyone who has seen it in person has said, you'll have no problem holding water with this thing. Only downside is I have not much drainage. About 3 acres into 1 acre.

My only question, why would these spots not show up right away? It took a week for them to show, wouldn't they be there right away? Like I said, we had ZERO rain since the lake was finished.

Hopefully, it is nothing to be too concerned with.

PL:

It sounds like if they ARE springs, they have very, very slow seep rates. That's what I'd expect with all that clay in the bottom. I think the potential they have to seep water out of the pond is also very small.

I had one wet spot in my pond when we dug it, at the bottom of the nearest approximation of a hill next to it. It put a few gallons of water into the dry pond bottom per day. Knowing what I do now (from PB), we would have packed it off with clay, but at the time we just stopped excavating in that direction. If this seep has ever cost my pond water, it was way too small an amount to notice.

i concur theo,
where water had a hard time comin in, it'll have a hard time goin out....sounds like you'll be fine pl.

the reason i suggested you dig to evaluate deeper is that if it is water table water, there could be coarser grained soils within a short distance of your pond bottom. whether water table or spring, it may have just taken a while for water to penetrate clay pond bottom enough to show moisture.

all ponds leak, its just a question of how fast (i.e. all materials have a permeability)

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the advice. I feel much better, I was a bit worried.

On a brighter note, GREAT NEWS, We have had nearly 2 inches of rain the last 2 days. I'm thinking of using a pump with a 4" x 80' hose to transport some water from a nearby creek, couldn't hurt could it? Quicker this pond fills, the bigger my smile.

pl, one thing you might worry about is introducing unwanted species from creek to pond (i.e. bullhead, GSF), put small screen on intake.

Thanks Dave, this pump comes with a screen, but that is a good idea.

Rain update now at 3 inches in the last 36 hours.