My pond leaks

[BBB]

I have a pond that is about 1/4 acre. It is L shaped about 4' deep on one end and 8' deep on the other. It won't hold water. It does fine in the rainy season (now) but in the winter months it will dry out. I live in LA where we have mostly clay and gumbo dirt. Any ideas??

 

[vallyfarm]

Old Timer fix: get some hogs. They will wallow around the edge of the pond effectively sealing any leaks. As the water level rises or lowers they will be at that point to seal it up. When the pond is sealed and holding water, have a pig roast on the shore. Mike

 

[BigDamnFool]

Wish I had an answer for you as I have the same problem. It held water all winter and as soon as the thaw started it started going down. I'm already a 4 feet low in one month. Guy that built pond is coming out this week and hopefully will have an answer for me. Will try to share any brainstorms that he may share with me.

Tiny

 

[MarkV]

I think the fix will depend on whether it is the dam leaking or if the body of the pond itself will not hold water. Either way it will need to be drained to get in there and work on it. I would do some reading on www.pondboss.com and see what you can find. It is a good pond forum with a bunch of helpful pro’s on it.

MarkV

 

[thingy]

I got same problem on smaller scale,,,[pond was probably just dug out in wrong spot,,might be those big blue crawcrabs that you sometimes see around here,well you see their holes,,anyways]..I'm going to drain it this summer and put bentonite on bottom,,its a clay they sell for stuff like this,,you buy it in 50lb bags,about 8 bucks a bag,,southern states feed stores can get it for you,,,supposed to swell up and stop up leaks,supposed to drainpond,,let it dry out a little but still moist,,apply this stuff at 1-3 lbs a sq foot,,work it into bottom 5-6 inches,,,or thats what your supposed to do anyways,,,mine is small enough[spring pond] to make this affordable,[about 200 dollars and half days work,],,,don't know if it really works or not,,and reckon it might for some leaks but not for all,[those big blue crawgrabs probably being one or any critter that makes a hole],,but if you just had a natural leak probably yes it would,,,1/4 acre would be pretty expensive buying it by the bag,,,maybe they sell it by truck load too someplace around you,,,look up bentonite,,but yeah you'll have to drain it someway,,thingy

 

[BamaRob]

My dad has an approx. 2 acre pond that had a slow leak. Filled up every winter/spring, but would be 4-5 ft. low in Sept./Oct. We put 1000 lbs. of bentonite clay in it a couple years ago. It helped, but it still leaks down.

Good luck,

BR

 

[woodchuckie]

In my area we can receive some type of federal assistance with the construction of a pond or lake. Before you qualify they drill core samples with a hand augur to see what type of soil you have and determine if it will hold water. They went down about 20 feet on me and were still finding the perttiest white sand you ever saw. No lake for me.

 

[thingy]

BR,Thats encouraging for me anyways,,I was planning on putting over 1,000 lbs of the stuff in my little pond,,and its only about 20 by 20 feet,[probably less],,according to directions I read that would only be about 2 lbs per square ft,,,it says to use 1-3 lbs per square foot,,,worked into bottom,,,2 acres,,,,man,you'd need many,many tons of the stuff if you followed the directions from dept.'s of ag. from different states I read on internet,,,
Not saying that woulda totally fixed the leak or even slowed it,,but 1,000 lbs in two acres,thats not much of a test to my way of thinking,,,did you all even drain it? edit here,,,[actually I looked it up,,an acre is 43,560 sq ft,,two acres,than would be about 87,000 sq feet,,1 lb a sq foot,,over 43 tons!!!,,and at 16 dollars a hundred lbs,if you bought it by the bag,,,would be about 14,000 dollars!! holy #@$!!!,,did I do that right?,,anyways,,,1,000 lbs for two acres ain't enough,,but if it slowed leak,,than maybe 3-4,000 mighta really helped?? thingy

 

[wushaw]

I have clay and gumbo in both of my ponds also and no leaks.

Just an idea but if you can't fix the leak then you may want to drill a well and use a windmill to pump in water to keep it full. My neighbor is going to try this to keep one of his ponds full.