Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations should you always compact the soil?

Not compacting a pond basin, even if the soil consists of good clay, is gambling. What if there is even a small area (12 in sq) or zone of lose soil anywhere in the basin? Leakage will occur in that spot. You want to do as much as possible prevent any leakage. This way the only water you will be loosing will be primarily due to evaporation and your pond will remain as full as possible considering rainfall and runoff it receives. It is betrer to have it too full and overflowing than leaking.

The extra cost of compacting is good money spent as leakage insurance. The only way I would not compact the basin is if the contractor guarantees in WRITING no leakage and he will come back and fix it free. If your pond does not leak you should not loose any more water per day than the pan evaporation rates for your area. In the summer it is hard to keep a pond full just due to evaporation losses alone. You don't want to have leakage adding to those losses. Fixing a leaky pond is much more expensive than doing the job properly in first time.

Compacting costs are monies well spent in the long run.