Clay for pond lining

[JonR]

Jeremy, a friend told me his father had a pond that wouldn't hold water when he was a kid. His dad fenced off the pond and brought in a bunch of hogs, kept them in the pond-pen for a few weeks or months, when he took out the hogs his pond held water! ...fwiw
-Jon

 

[Redneck in training]

We have the same problem with our pond. The pond was built in 2004 and was never full. In fact first year it was just a mud hole with 3ft of water. Therefore I bought 14 tons of bentonite and hired a guy with bulldozer to apply it. He used a spreader and was circling the pond until run out of the bentonite. The bentonite was covered by about a foot of dirt. Then the water level rose to about 8 to 9 feet (about half full). Originally before the bentonite was applied the pond would go up a foot during heavy rain and then dropp a foot in less than a day. After the bentonite the water level was dropping few inches a day. Therefore we bought a sealer from Seepage control Seepage Control, Inc. -- Specializing in construction of liners for sealing lakes and ponds and applied it. It lowered the water loss to about one inch a day but it didn't stop it. I calculated the loss is about 5 gal/sec depending on water level. Assuming that I have single leak I also calculated that the leak was about 6 ft deeper from certain water level coinciding with depth of the hydrant take off.
My next step will be a "milk test". Since I suspect the water is following the hydrant pipe due to lack of "collars" I will dive there and pour milk in the water to see if it gets sucked in around the pipe or other places in the pond.

We also priced a liner. The average estimate was about $25000/0.7 acre plus labor. Another disadvantage of liner is that it prevents mineral exchange and the pond becomes a "swimming pool" and has to be treated with chemicals.

Jeremy, a friend told me his father had a pond that wouldn't hold water when he was a kid. His dad fenced off the pond and brought in a bunch of hogs, kept them in the pond-pen for a few weeks or months, when he took out the hogs his pond held water! ...fwiw
-Jon

This method works as long as the seepage is caused by permeability of the material. If the leakage is caused in example by crack in the underlying rock it will not work. It works as the feeces promote bacerial growth that seals the leakage. In the part of Europe I am from fish farming is one of the big industries with thousands of ponds. They seal ponds with manure or other biomas such as grass clippings, straw, leaves etc. When pond is built in difficult area it is covered with about a foot or more of biomas toped with 2 or 3 feet of dirt and compacted. It might take more than one season to seal.

 

[ultrarunner]

Jeremy, a friend told me his father had a pond that wouldn't hold water when he was a kid. His dad fenced off the pond and brought in a bunch of hogs, kept them in the pond-pen for a few weeks or months, when he took out the hogs his pond held water! ...fwiw
-Jon

That's how I was told my Great Grandfather built his pond. It was a pig hollow and then he layered it with straw and soil on top of it. I guess clay is decayed bio mass and the pigs speed up the process?

 

[Redneck in training]

Here are few pics of our pond.

 

[chh]

Jeremy, a friend told me his father had a pond that wouldn't hold water when he was a kid. His dad fenced off the pond and brought in a bunch of hogs, kept them in the pond-pen for a few weeks or months, when he took out the hogs his pond held water! ...fwiw
-Jon

I have people do the same thing with cattle. They feed round bales in the bottom of the pond and let the cattle churn it in.

 

[Bird]

I have people do the same thing with cattle. They feed round bales in the bottom of the pond and let the cattle churn it in.

I had a neighbor do just that. He said he and his son had a bunch of old, poor quality round bales of hay and they busted them up, unrolled them and covered the bottom of the dry pond, then fed good bales right in the bottom and he said that pond has never gone dry again, even in the driest weather. But of course, it helps if you have a good sized herd of cattle to tromp on it.

 

[firemen122]

I have a "pond" that doesn't hold water. After lots of research and conferring with experts, I'm pretty sure what I need is a couple of truck loads of good clean clay to spread over the bottom.

But I can't find a source of clay near Louisville, KY. Anybody have a suggestion?

The old timers around here swore you could fence off a bunch of hogs in that bottom, let em root with a little water flowing in and they will seal the pond. Never done it , but know of several ponds that were supposedly created by this method.

 

[Egon]

Sheepfoot packers are quite common. Are we gonna start several new classifications called "Bovine Packers" or "Pigs feet packers" ?

 

[bindian]

When my new pond http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/135413-i-finally-started-my-pond.html was leaking, I "googled up" on Bentonite. Bentonite works great for spot leaks, like near a drain pipe. Just dump it overboard and it will find the leak. For a whole pond, I found online, you need to till the Bentonite into the existing soil and pack in it. I found a 18 wheeler truck load for not that much down here. But I just added 6 inches of clay to the dam and repacked the whole dam. It all depends on your soil type to how much bentonite is tilled in. I would find a pond expert in your area and pump him for information.
hugs, Brandi

 

[tugboat-2]

When I first dug my pond, I was completely ignorant and just used the top soil and dirt I dug out to build the levee (I want to call it a d-m darn but they censor the word so I'll call it a levee).

So anyway it leaked down every year and so during the drought of 2007, I dug it out deeper and wider etc and got down past the earth into the nice gray clay. I scooped up bucket fulls and went to the pond walls and dumped the bucket as high as it would lift then smoothed it down to the bottom with the bucket bottom, row after row all the way round the two ends and the levee.

I'm not sure how thick the clay is but certainly not two feet in most places and likely only inches thick in most places but its plastered on and smoothed down and it has NOT leaked since, stays nice and full and it is only fed by spring snow melt and rain. Lots of hills drain down to it also but it doesn't leak!!!

Before the drought,...my local pond guy told me to put lots of bottom-feeders in and they would stir up the bottom and the stirred up dirt will plug the holes. Said it worked for him. Then came the drought so I didn't get to try the fish. Just a suggestion.

CHEERS!
. . tug