Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Old pond--new problem

We have a 5-yr old pond which winds around our gazebo (large). Waterfall on one side of pond dropping down into column with 20 feet of plants (6 inches of water over 12 inches of pea gravel) dropping down to large roundish pond with more vegetation and lots of goldfish.

Our liner was undermined with water from an unknown source. We shut off the pump and waited three weeks for help. Minimal help was available, so we turned it back on. Gutsy--true--or maybe just stupid. So far (one week later) nothing bad is going on.

My husband and I think that two things led to this occurrence: (l) upper waterfall froze during winter and diverted water to area that was not previously accessed by the water column, and (2)water is running too fast because an "in-pipe attenuator" was removed when we had some work done prior to this most recent winter.

Any comments on the possible validity to our observations?

Alexa

Alexa

Bump

Anybody have any experience here?

A couple of questions:
1. You mean a rubber liner, correct?
2. The liner lifted up like a bubble from water underneath?

If so, personally I would weigh it back down with some heavy objects, but bear in mind there may be a leak someplace. Monitor your water levels and make sure you are not losing more water than usual. If you do have a leak, you will need to drain below the leak level and patch it.

Otherwise it may be as you said, a ice dam caused a water backup that lead to filling under the liner and lifted it up, or simply a frost heave.

The bump is called a whale back (that is kind of what it looks like)

Water or some kind of gas---it is not unheard of---and not nice to see.

There is a valve the is installed when the liner is put in place that will let the water or gas escape into the pond.

Whale back! Yep that is what it looked like. After we waited several weeks, the water was reabsorbed into the surrounding soil. Everything is flat now, but the water is slowly leaking about 2 inches per day. We are just hoping that it has not "refound" the offending leak spot.

The liner is 45 mil thick and the whale back was all water--not any air/gas, I don't think.

There was no valve installed when the liner was put in place, so there is no escape, except through absorption.

We had one guy come out to take a looksee, but he thinks he has to completely redo the upper waterfall area in order to find the leak. We are going to get a second opinion on this by a guy who is presently recovering from a broken neck, but who is highly recommended.

Just thought I would pass this by those of you who might have had or know people who had similar problems.

Thanks for your thought so far.

Alexa

Your information is valuable to us. Thank you. The liner is 45 mil thick and purchased from a roofing company at the time our pond was built.

This "whale back" as Mike Otto called it, sure sounds like what it looked like. Now it is all gone because reabsorption has taken the excess water away and everything went flat again. When it was being built, I took many pictures every day. In looking over the pictures again, I see that even though the liner was 1500 square feet, it was necessary to do a different section for the big waterfall. Therein, I think, lies the problem. Several pond people have told us that most pond problems are in the waterfall area.

We are going to see another person before we decide anything as drastic as taking the whole waterfall apart--(it is all cemented with real cement), and would be a major fix.

Thanks again for your input. Alexa