How do i find a leak in my pond?
Question:it is about 200 feet wide and 400 feet long and above ground level on the back side. It is about 2 feet lower than normal for the past 2 years and only goes up when it rains heavily and goes right back down to the same low level in a day. I cant see any water flowing out anywhere. There is no steam leading into it. It is just feed by rain water runoff from the hill above it.
Answers:
I'm sorry, I didn't see where you mentioned that it was lined. Possibilities are that the water table in your area has been lowered by dry conditions or water well pumping. There might be a seam of gravel that lies just below the ground surface that's seeping the water away at the level where it stabilizes. Another possibility is an animal such as a muskrat created a den that's draining the pond into the ground at the level it's stopping at.
Does the grass grow more at any particular area around the pond? That may be a place to start looking for the leak if there is one.
You could try getting some bentonite clay. This is a product that swells up and is used to seal the bottoms of ponds.
But I would check out the water table before I spent a lot of time or money on a fix. Check out nearby ponds and see if they are lower than they should be.
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Good Luck and Happy Gardening from Cathy and Neal!
Since you mentioned seamed I assume it is lined. If it goes down to the same spot then there is a leak at that spot. When the pond fills again you might want to try some milk around the edges to see if you can spot the leak. The only way to really tell is to dig around the edges and find the wet soggy spot after the pond has just lost alot of water. You can try doing this after a long dry spell, then fill the pond with water, let it drain then check the sides for wettness. Since your pond is big and you are loosing alot of water you could also dig several 2 foot deep post holes very, very close to the edges of the pond and then fill the pond with water then watch those holes to see if they fill with water when the pond drains. There is no real easy way to find leaks.
pour in some liquid dish soap then look around for bubbles that is where it is leaking to.
I am assuming this is a pond that has been dug out. Many farm ponds lose water or will not hold water. Then someone needs to come in with a small backhoe, or dozer to dig out the mud at the bottom.
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