Pond dam leak

[Sticky Stokes]

Discovered a worst case scenario at my 3-4 acre farm pond on Sunday. It has remained about 6-8 feet low all summer even with the rain we have had. The pond was built in the early 70's, the pond was close to 30 feet deep in the middle when built. There are several trees on the front side of the dam on the ends, the back side of the dam drops down about 25-30 feet, the back side is covered with some small cedars and some old growth cedars near the bottom. They should have been removed years ago but I was afraid to cut them for fear of leaving a void as the roots died out. Well one of the big cedars has died and there is one maybe two voids at the very bottom of the dam on the backside and water is leaking out through the holes, around dying and decaying tree roots I am sure. The pond has a spillway, and a drain pipe as well but no water is going out there, the drain pipe is buried and clogged. It looks like the pond is just slowly draining itself dry.

Anyone dealt with this before? Any suggestions? I'm looking around for a pond expert but not having much luck. Deer Slayers pond guy said to try Bentonite, anyone know where I can get that? I am gonna need a bunch of it. Anyone ever use it? I do not want to have the pond go dry and have to rebuild, can't afford it, and the thought of losing all the fish in there is keeping me up at night.

 

[Okie4570]

Know of a couple of guys who did this when the ponds went dry, benonite is the answer, especially when there's still water in it. They brought it in by the truck load, but it can be bought in bags too. Get trees away from the pond, they're heavy drinkers.

http://www.lumber2.com/Bentonite-Pond-Sealer-p/bentonite50.htm
http://www.jpself.com/bentonite.htm

 

[dennishoddy]

Okie nailed it. Neighbors pond had the same happen. He had it brought in via tanker truck.
Fixed him right up.

 

[Sticky Stokes]

Thanks fellas, when you say get the trees away from the dam, do you think it is ok to remove them now, even the large ones? Wont that lead to the same problem I have now?

 

[Okie4570]

May or may not, cedars drink water all year though. That would be one to call and ask the bentonite pro's. This last few years while in the drought, it's amazing to see creeks that are dry in the summer, start flowing again once the trees and grasses go dormant for the winter, even though it hasn't rained.

 

[Redmule454]

I've got a small pond that has willow trees in the dam. It is nothing more than a mud puddle now. I dug it out 15 yrs ago and it's time to do it again. I probably should line it with bentonite this time and cut out all the trees. 35 yrs ago I built ponds for a living in northern Missouri, didn't have to many problems with leaks in that soil.

An old farmer told me that he would fence a pond that had a leak an put his pigs in the pen. They would walk, root, and wallow and seal the leak.
Got pigs?

 

[Oklahomabassin]

http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/pond-repair-zmaz83ndzale.aspx#axzz3CaE3q8U4
Decent read here

 

[Oklahomabassin]

http://www.texasbentonite.com/leaking-pond.html
Better read here. Also sell bentonite for repairing ponds.
Bentonite is used frequently in the oilfield drilling operations. It should be easy to find around here.

 

[Glock_21]

I think you can get bags of bentonite at Ditch Witch of Oklahoma in Edmond. No idea of the cost. It is sometimes used in horizontal drilling operations.