Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help New pond is leaking...

We had our pond built last summer. It is about an acre and is 16 feet at deepest point. A core was dug to rock filled with soil/clay from what is now the bottom of the pond. My neighbor did the work for us and has been doing this for years. He was concerned that there might be leaks due to the rock at the bottom of the core and rock that was encountered on one side of the pond. Once the general shape was acheived, all exposed rock was covered with about a foot of the same material from the bottom of the pond. He also said that it may take a long time to fill. It filled rather quickly and I could find no leaks or water comming up anywhere below the dam. Everything, was cut and sewn with feed plot mix. With this drought, I am in Al by the way, the pond has gone way down in the last month. The weather man was calling for rain this week so I decided that cut all the grass/ feed plots in hopes that they would reseed themselves. I buried the tractor about 150 feet below the dam. The ground is just soaked. It has to be coming from the pond as there is no other water anywhere around. I called and talked with our county extension agent. He recommended scattering about 200 lbs of chicken litter to try and seal it up.

If this doesn't work, how can I isolate the leak to use bentonite or what other possibilities are there? The extension agent and my neighbor said that it could seal itself over time. What are the chances of that? I have already stocked fish, set up feeder and they seem to be doing well, but I am concerned that the pond won't survive the summer if the leak isn't fixed. Any sugguestions or advice is appreciated.

There's no absolute answer on this without draining and eyeballing. However, I'm concerned about digging a core down to rock and "dumping" dirt on top of it. Sticking the tractor downstream from the dam might be a good indicator of water running under the dam and on top of or through that rock.

I hate the idea of letting it dry up. The fish are doing so well. I didn't think about leaks developing later since there weren't any initially.

I didn't either. One of mine wasn't cored and durn sure leaks. The one that was cored and all rocks removed doesn't leak. No way that I will drain it and start over.

On the mountain where I live, rocks are just one of those things you have to deal with. If digging anything, post hole, waterline, septic tank or pond, you may go 20 feet deep, or two inches before you hit rock. There are several out croppings on our property. Some rain here would help as much as anything. We are 18 inches short for the year right now. That much would have me back at full pool.

I have been watching the radar. It looks like we are getting a little rain at home today.

I know where most of the rock was encountered during the building of the pond. Unless someone has a better sugguestion, I am going to add the chicken litter as the county extension agent sugguested, and a few bags of bentonite in the rocky area. If that fails, I will just watch the leak until it stops, at that time, I will know at what level in the pond the leak is located, not the very bottom, hopefully. Maybe I can then locate it's exact location and correct it.