At a loss - pond won’t hold water. - 05/22/22 04:50 PM
Hi all,
We bought a property last summer with a 1 acre pond in it. We had all sorts of plans to stock the pond and make it a good spot to fish, but nature showed us otherwise.
Late last summer, pond went totally dry, except for a couple of inches in the middle.
This year, we had a good rainfall over the fall and spring and it seemed much more stable. We’re now losing water pretty quickly - about a foot in this last week. No obvious leaks or noticeable places where the water is escaping.
I talked to a neighbor, who actually built this pond back in the 70s. He said there was no clay in the soil when it was built and he sealed it with bentonite some years later before he sold off the land.
The entirety of the pond is surrounded by brush and trees after years of being neglected by the previous owner of the property. We’re removing these slowly.
We put in some PondBoss Pro 5 lb blocks a few weeks ago to try and get rid of some of the muck. Using a stick, it looks like there’s about 9 inches of muck near the bank. I’m guessing it’s much deeper in the middle.
We aren’t sure how it’s fed, but I know at the least by rainwater runoff that feeds into it and overflow goes out a stream when we have heavy rains. Otherwise the stream is dry as there is a step up to the stream from the main basin of the pond.
We do have about 20 catfish in there now, and they seem to be doing fine, so I assume the water is stable enough ti maintain life.
I’m at a total loss of what to do here. I’ve researched all winter long and cannot find a company or some way to DIY figuring out where all the water is going.
We bought a property last summer with a 1 acre pond in it. We had all sorts of plans to stock the pond and make it a good spot to fish, but nature showed us otherwise.
Late last summer, pond went totally dry, except for a couple of inches in the middle.
This year, we had a good rainfall over the fall and spring and it seemed much more stable. We’re now losing water pretty quickly - about a foot in this last week. No obvious leaks or noticeable places where the water is escaping.
I talked to a neighbor, who actually built this pond back in the 70s. He said there was no clay in the soil when it was built and he sealed it with bentonite some years later before he sold off the land.
The entirety of the pond is surrounded by brush and trees after years of being neglected by the previous owner of the property. We’re removing these slowly.
We put in some PondBoss Pro 5 lb blocks a few weeks ago to try and get rid of some of the muck. Using a stick, it looks like there’s about 9 inches of muck near the bank. I’m guessing it’s much deeper in the middle.
We aren’t sure how it’s fed, but I know at the least by rainwater runoff that feeds into it and overflow goes out a stream when we have heavy rains. Otherwise the stream is dry as there is a step up to the stream from the main basin of the pond.
We do have about 20 catfish in there now, and they seem to be doing fine, so I assume the water is stable enough ti maintain life.
I’m at a total loss of what to do here. I’ve researched all winter long and cannot find a company or some way to DIY figuring out where all the water is going.