How do I seal my farm pond, in Georgia

[mach]

Hey guys, I had me a pond dug about 3 years ago. At first it held water pretty good, but now it doesn't. I live in Northwest gerogia. My soil is limestone rock & clay, not much top-soil. I've been told a sheeps-foot packer will seal it up, but I have my doubts. I tried some material that was supposed to swell up and seal the pond, but it didn't work. The pond is about a 1/2 acre, when its full, but most of the time , it looks like a mud hole, with just a few inches of water in the bottom. I have a ford compact tractor, I just don't know what I can use to seal it. I've also been told pigs will seal a pond, but we have an ordiance against pigs. What is my best means of sealing my pond???

Thanks guys,
mach

 

[MReeb]

Nose goblins might work?

Sorry, couldn't resist a Stimpy response.

 

[froggy]

Pond Boss Magazine Home Page! covers all aspects of pond building/maintenance. Think you would get more responses/ information there.

 

[ToadHill]

Up north we use blue clay, I don't know if that's available in your area. You can also buy pond liners which won't be too bad to put in if all you have now is a small mud hole.

 

[meadowlarkponds]

You've got some tough choices:

1) drain it and bring in some quality clay and "line" the pond with that clay, at least one foot deep and preferably two feet

2) drain it and install a pond liner

3) continue to try additives...but very unlikely to work.

Do you know how the pond was constructed...with what equipment? It is possible that improper compaction is the problem? If that is the problem, then draining and using a sheepsfoot might fix the problem...but I would sure check the soils in the pond first to see if clay needs to be added.

Did you see the actual construction and soils used in the dam? Was a core trench used?

Did the soil have a high clay content? It sounds to me like this is more likely your problem....insufficient high quality clay...and options 1 and 2 above are the only ways I know to fix that.

It would be nice if running a few pigs in there would fix the problem, and sometimes for some folks it has. I have used cows to help compact my pond bottoms, feeding them range cubes over areas of the pond to get compaction. I think it helps but if you don't have the right clay content, it wont solve your problem.

 

[ampsucker]

agree with meadowlarkponds. also, check for any other possible sources of leakage. you said it held for a while so that makes me think you might have a mole or gopher problem. those little suckers will tunnel into a dam and poof, you have a nice leakage tunnel. another often overlooked source of leakage is if you had a lot of trees in the area. if the installer didn't remove all the roots, as they rot they will leave a tunnel through the dam and let water escape.

if you have plenty of clay, check these other sources of leakage. also, shelf limestone is known for letting water travel along its surface underground for long distances. we have about a billion wet water springs in our area due to just that.

if you have a good rain and it fills partially, take a hard look around the outside for wet spots that linger. that might help you identify our leakage area.

amp