Having fought my leaky pond for over a year, I became distraught when so much water leaked through the dam, that a section on the backside became saturated and slid downhill. This was just after the water level finally approached full pond. I almost gave up on it as it leaked so bad and now this! I researched all the usual fixes and tried something called ESS-13. The main selling point was that I could use a water borne method that did not require draining and heavy equipment, thus the cost was a lot lower. That and it seemed a good fit as it controls seepage. Had my doubts, seemed too good to be true but proceeded to purchase 3 barrels for my .2 acre pond. . After a week, the backside of the dam started dried out. It was easy to see, with all the earth exposed. The water was no longer leaking through the dam and I went from losing 1 1/2 inches per day to .5 inches per day. Rather have 0 loss but a 2/3 reduction in loss rate and a viable dam works for me!. Wanted to share what worked for me and that Seepage Control is a great outfit to deal with.

Congrats on the success and welcome to the forum... Where in central Virginia are you?

What was the cost of the 3 barrels?

The last time I priced it was right around a $1,000 per drum. Not including freight? I think it is better than the DB stuff, but you need the right pond or prep.

Sounds very interesting. Did you have fish in the pond before you treated it and if so did you have to remove them?

I'm in central Virgina, a little place called Jetersville.
You guys have a great site, a lot of good info here.

I never stocked the pond as I wasn't sure it would be viable.
The water level was always going up and down, then the dam problem. The instructions did say you you would want to remove the fish as they would have problems with their gills. The frogs and such didn't mind the treatment though.

We did a little better then $1000.00 per drum as to the cost. I guess every pond situation is different, i know this new pond is way different the the other one we had in NC. Here, the soil / clay quality is poor. When I bought this place, I rebuilt the old dam as it had washed out in the center with the previous owner and regraded and sloped the complete bottom. About $13,000 worth of work. Now the guy who did the work isn't exactly stepping up to the plate as to fixing the dam problem. I don't know, the dam seeped through in the repaired area, saturated the backside which then slide down hill. He tells me "well all dams require maintenance".

Oh well, I'm just glad ESS-13 stopped the dam seepage and really slowed down the daily water loss. Now I've got something to work with.

Just wanted to thank you VaRifleman for the kind words. We're very happy you're satisfied with the treatment. Vance C.