Re-habbing an old dry pond

[keith44]

Last May we moved on to our new place.  12 acres (10ish wooded) with two old dried up ponds.  The one closest to the house, according to a neighbor, has not held more than ten inches of water in the past 30 years.  With all the heavy rains we've had this spring I was able to locate all the leaks in the levee, and make preliminary repairs with a shovel, and some rocks, some heavy clay mud, and some straw.     So far we have 28"of water and rising!!  With up to 10" of rainfall expected over the next 3 to 5 days (depending on source)  I hope to have great news to share in two weeks!!

[blind ear]

Sounds like a drean to me. Trees growing on the levy are one of the levy's enemies. They creat leaking holes. ear

[keith44]

yup, phase 2 will be clearing the levee

[squirrellluck]

More clay before the water gets too high.

[keith44]

 
uhoh

Water level is looking good, but found some seepage low, actually below the levee.  It's not bad yet, I'll keep an eye on it.  May have to dig out the levee and start over. 

Oh well, wait and see.  Here's where we're at now, and a shot of the seepage.

[keith44]

yeah it's full of trash and needs to be cleaned out better, but the rains came quicker than expected

[hillbill]

how did the pond turn out im curious?if its still not holding yu can put up a electric fence and put sum hogs in there, sumtimes that will do it.or buy a old junker dozer that runs and werks for 4 or 5 k and redo the levee and smear sum clay around the bottom of it.then resell the dozer and yur good to go.i know this is a old post but post us if yu can
 

[keith44]

Hi HillBill, the patch held, but 10 feet below there is a seep.  Turns out there is a limestone structure that has cracked and has tree roots growing through it.  So even the clay idea won't work.  I have several ideas, but all are expensive.

[hillbill]

have you tried useing  some bentonite clay?it comes in bags and is used to seal cracks in limestone or other porus rocks in pond bottoms.as i understand it works its way into the cracks and swells up.

[keith44]

That's one of the expensive options, but probably what I end up doing

[45-70.gov]

stock  it  with  beavers!!!!!


my freind got in trouble  because  of beavers
his  pond  grew  over the state  high way


we didn't get a shot  on any  beavers


but 3 rounds  of  50bmg   took  out the levy.....i mean  the damm








my pond  is down  4 feet lower....or more
http://www.youtube.com/user/bjameson925

[keith44]

father-in-law used to get paid to blow the beaver dams with dynamite.  I have seen what they do, not only to make a water way, but to the surrounding area.  No thank you.

[hillbill]

That's one of the expensive options, but probably what I end up doing

how spendy is it really?ive heard of guys haveing a crew come in with a spray hose and a boat and doing it professionally and ive heard of guys just goin out in a boat and spreading out of the bags by hand.and also of pumping the pond out and just sprinkeling it in by hand.i dont know a lot about it yet. yu have prob done the research?

[Bugflipper]

A couple hogs fenced in will seal virtually any pond. Their wollering and compacting the soil with their hooves does the trick. This even works on straight sand with no clay. When the pond is full and they have cleared off everything around it you could move them to the other dry one. My pond is sand sides and sandstone bottom. It is much more porous than other rock bottoms. I left about 4" of sand on top of it. I think I had them in there a month or so before they got it sealed up. It's held for 10 or so years.

If the limestone is on the side you may be able to talk a roofing crew into mopping it with tar. It shouldn't be very much for them to spend a couple hours tarring.

[keith44]

I wish I could run hogs on the place, about 3 or 4 a year.  The wife says "Oh Hxxx NO you're not!"  so that's out.
 
The tar idea with the benzonite after I clear the tree roots might just do the trick.