I once read in a gardening magazine about a woman in southern B.C. that had problems with her pond not holding water. She decided to get clay to line it with, and didn't have any problems after that. She layed down clay two feet deep over an extensive pond system. I don't have the kind of money to haul tons of matterial, and I don't know of a clay pit where I can access tons amyway. My question is, does the clay have to be that thick? I'm considering lining a pond with clay, renting a packer, like you'd pack a driveway, or foundation area with, and pack the clay to maximize it's water retention quality. My reason for wanting to use clay is that I would prefer to import as little plastic as possible to my new property. Any ideas appreciated.

-- roberto pokachinni (pokachinni@yahoo.com), January 12, 2002

Answers

An old remedy for leaking ponds is to feed cattle in the pond bed or maybe hogs. Old timers swear it works. ( I'd think that was when the pond is dry

-- charlie (charliesap@pldi.net), January 12, 2002.

On a previous farm,I had a pond that would'nt hold water.Then I used a method I saw my Father use, I fenced the pond in temporary an turned hogs into it, thats been 8 years ago and it still holds water today. I left them in about two months.It will clear up.

-- David R In TN. (srimmer@earthlink.net), January 12, 2002.

Roberto,

First off, how do you know you're pond won't hold water? Will it be on a stream? How big? Soil type?

I have 4 small ponds on a stream that flows about 20 gal/min. and the soil is pretty sandy yet all 4 ponds ponds hold water, although the last one drains down during July & August because it is new. The ponds will tend to seal over time, most of them leak badly for the first couple of years. If you have a constant water source, I wouldn't worry about the pond holding water, unless the pond is too big for the source.

-- bruce (rural@inebraska.com), January 12, 2002.

Are you having problems with the pond leaking now? Do you know how much clay the native soil contains? If you don't know take a representative sample and place it in a quart jar, fill with water, cap and shake.

Let the jar set for at least 24 hours. The larger heavier particles such as sand will settle to the bottom followed by silt and then clay. You should be able to see the layers of each. For good pond soil you need at least 20% clay. More is better.

Keep in mind that if you have rock ledges or a seam of gravel you can lose water. If you're going to line the pond you'll need at least one foot of clay. You can buy bags of bentonite if there's no local source of native clay.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), January 12, 2002.

thanks for the answers. so I guess the animal excrement is what holds the water in the pond, or is it the impact of the animal feets? Anyway I'm not really interested in pigs, and cows. Bruce, the water runs seasonally, I haven't measured gallons per minute, but the flow is significant during fall spring, and milder parts of the winter. In the summer the area holds water wet years but is just a muddy slop area on dry years. The water flows, and sits on a clay type area, basically disappears into the ground later where the soil changes to a glacier till of coarse rocks and sand. It may hold water if I dig it out; I don't know. All I know is that I'd like some body of water to grow water plants in, to dive into after a sauna, and I'd appreciate having some fish around, ya know what I mean?

-- roberto pokachinni (pokachinni@yahoo.com), January 12, 2002.

According to my husbands uncle, who has used this method, it's the action of the feet that make this work. Have you ever heard of rammed earth for building? It's the same thing. He also says that the leak you are trying to seal will be at the water line, so they never worried about whether or not there was water at the bottom. They just put corn around the edge of the water and let the animals eat it.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), January 13, 2002.