Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Where is my water going?

Hello everyone,

I recently moved away from the city to a acre in the country.
My new house came with a nice sized pond, that has a deck, and is stocked with catfish, perch and afew others I can't identify.

But somethings wrong with my pond, and I am looking for some ideas on how to solve the problem.

I've only lived here for about 3 months now, and when I first came to view the property in January, I noticed the water level in the pond was really low. Especially when compared to the basin that was dug out for it.

During the April showers, the extra rain raised the water level several feet, but even at its highest the water level was still several feet from reaching the edges of the basin that was dug out for it.

After the rain dries out, the pond seems to lose about 1-2 feet a day in water level.
If it doesn't rain, the water level continues to drop.
It seems to stop dropping, once it gets to a certain level.
At the water level where the seepage seems to stop, a large area of soil erosion is uncovered on one side of the pond.

I've searched the hillside on the other side of the pond, to try and see where all this water is going, but there is no stream, or puddle, or any sign of where the water is going.

I am on a 'hill' geographically. I think I am about 200-300ft above the rest of the area. But there are several other ponds in my area, that are also at the same "hill", and those ponds don't have any seepage issues.

I've included some pictures to try and give a better idea of what I am looking at.

I'm having issues trying to get the images attached.

Welcome Grendel. Which Covington? There are a bunch of them around the country. And, a lot of this stuff is factored and influenced by geologic/climate conditions.

Hello Grendel and welcome to the forum. I help folks nationwide with pond construction, rehab, and leak abatement and am happy to help however I can. I’m a volunteer here and my time is always free to our Pond Boss community - feel free to reach out anytime.

Tj@hudlandmgmt.com

Here's the pics I was trying to attach last night.

It gives a better idea of how low the water level is, and shows the side erosion that I think is linked with the loss of water.

Hello Dave, this is Covington Tn.
In my immediate area, 2 miles radius, there are probably 6-7 ponds.
Most are 2x-3x larger than mine, and they don't seem to have any water loss. Atleast not as bad as mine does.

My hill is slanted in such a way that about 2 acres worth of grass fields, and also all the downspouts from my house, drain directly into the pond. It gets alot of water, it just losses it very fast.

Beautiful pond, Grendel!

Losing 1-2 feet per day, and then having the loss significantly decrease indicates that you probably have a pond leak through the SIDE of your pond.

The best time to find the leak is after a rain fills your pond AND the ground around the pond has dried after the rain. You need to examine the area around your pond under those conditions. You should be able to find a damp spot. If not, then you should find an area of lush plant growth this summer that marks the leak outflow.

Another option if you have a water well, or cheap system water, would be to fill the pond when the area around the pond is dry.

The dark slump in your pics looks awfully suspicious. Perhaps a spot with bad compaction and water is starting to move through that area? If so, then it will move a few grains of soil along the water flow path, and the leak will get worse over time.

It also could be "third party" damage like a muskrat hole, etc.

If the pond level drops a lot more, then you should probably examine that hole more closely from the pond side.

Good luck fixing your leak!