Thought I would add an update to add in case it helps others along the way.
I have had several rounds of pond fixing over the past few years
to make this pond hold. It has been an expensive proposition to be sure, however I have learned a lot about pond building in my area of central Kentucky.
Essentially, I have a lot of clay, mixed with limestone rock layers. The challenge for valley dams around here comes from water coming down the valley sinking down until it hits a weak layer and then progressing horizontally down the valley.
Once a Pond is built, the water pressure keeps trying to push the water towards any weak spot, which reconnects the water to the weak layer(s) that run under the valley.
As such as the pond has filled over the years, it keeps springing leaks farther up the valley which then reconnect the pond to the underground drainage system.
WHen I have a leak, they are fairly easy to spot as the location where the spring daylights will increase in flow and the pond will drop faster. Once the pond drops, it is easy to see the little sinkhole where the water is flowing.
At that point, I dig out that area with an excavator, dig down as deep as I can, to hit the rotten layer and then pack in clay.
I have done 2 rounds of this and have chased the leaks up the valley several hundred feet. By doing this, I have gone from 3" to 1.5" to .85" of loss per day.
THis past summer, I tried a different tact, as the heavy equipment route is very costly.
I located a company in Australia - Polymer Innovations which sells Water $ave. THey make a polymer sealant type product that is spread on the water over a large or small area, sinks to the bottom and is drawn into any seeping areas, where it expands into the voids.
It is not a cheap product, (shipping from AU basically doubled the cost of the product). However, it seems to work very well. As I locate a sink hole, I simply pour this product in the area of the hole and the leak stops within a couple of days. Using this product I have taken my leak from .85" down to .25" per day, and can probably eliminate the issue totally as I locate more problem areas over time.
The pond is leaking slowly enough at this point that I the water level may not get down low enough for me to locate more weak areas.
I feel like I could have used this product to avoid all the additional Excavating and clay packing that I did over the course of several summers. May be worth a try vs moving heavy equipment back into place.
Anyway, Thanks for the help that you all provided a few years back.
John
