Well I know that it's not a sure thing but we got a price on putting bentonite on the whole pond and to be honest it is more than we want to spend. We are fairly sure that it is going through the bottom of the ditch and it is less than probably 2 surface acres. The ditch bottom is the only part of the pond that any kind of a sandy soil content. The dirt contractor and the farm service agency thought that it would silt in and seal when we built it 2 years ago but 2 years have gone by and it has filled up numerous times with rainwater and it still falls significantly through the year. So we went and talked to the FSA and they said that this would probably be the next step. So will spread the bentonite on Thursday with a mixture of broadcasters and boats. The average depth in the ditch now is around 4' so it won't be terribly difficult to spread. The rest of the pond is bone dry so we will be able to drive a tractor up to the edge of the ditch and spread it with a broadcaster and then spread it in the middle of the ditch with a boat. Even if this doesn't seal it 100%......if it will even slow the rate of water loss it would be an improvement. We also had a well installed today and it is currently running off of a generator. According to my calculations I should be only adding around 25k gal per 12 hours so it will be a long time until I get any significant water gains. We are just trying to add a little water to help the fish make it until this winter when we will hopefully get a few good rains to help fill it up. Once that happens we will hopefully be able to maintain a certain level.

-lee-