Recirculating Leaking Pond Water

It may not be the correct solution but it has been done before on a bigger dam and the possibility must be investigated.

A soft cement mixture can be pumped into the rocky area from the downstream side to seal the leaks.

The dependency of downstream owners on the flow in the aquifer must also be looked at.

Placing a liner in the dam is another possibility.

No, there's no such thing as a pertpetual motion pump. If the wind in your area is constantly blowing, you could use a wind powered pump. In any case, recirculating the water may improve the aeration of the pond water so this may be a good idea, albeit expensive in the long run.

If you decide to recirculate, however, there may come a time when the leak may get worse. It would probably be better if you find the leak and patch it up.

yes their is a method, the hydraulic pump, it pumps water with and from water, min head requred is app 10' and you can pump up to 70% of the water back up.

Ah yes, but that is not a perpetual motion pump.

Perpetual motion, by definition, refers to something that converts 100% of its input energy to motion. As you pointed out, your hydraulic pump only returns 70% (not 100%) of the water back up.

I assume this is an earthen dam. If so, you only have a few choices.

1) drain the pond and fix it with either a clay lining, or a pond lining like EDPM ot PE sheeting.

2) Have it grouted.

If the pond leak is not fixed, it will get bigger and bigger until it completly erodes the entire sturcture.

Sometimes the dam is not keyed into the rock properly and sometimes the leaks are around the pipe. If it is either one of these you'll have to rebuild the dam.

Look in the phone book for the USDA NRCS agent. It use to be called the SCS. They will come out and look at it and can advise you on how to fix this.

If finding the leak in the bottom of the pond is the main problem: you may be able to adapt Tad's technique to find it:-

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/9243/Swimming-Pool-Leak-electronic-question

Invest in a solar pump at around 7 or 8 amps @ 12volts dc . Your pond will be better for it. The guy that said drain it and line it is correct. Finding the leak source would be a pain in the neck. Puting a french drain around it isnt cheap either.

I have had good success with bentonite granuuls. They can be broadcast over the surface of the pond without draining, and will find the leak, and swell in place. They can be found at drilling supply houses in most areas.

Hola Fab1818. Could you give me more details on this repair metod? I have a little concrete pond, 2 feet deep, full of Koi fishes and they are big, so it is kind of difficult removing them from the pond. Is this metod safe for the fish? there is any trade name for the bentonite granules? how big are they and if they will work on leaks located sideways? Thanks for any help. Regards. Luis

A leak in a pond will need to be protected or sealed, or it will pipe material out and the leak will get progressively worse, increasing the flow rate and rate of piping until the dam fails. You need to grade a filter (or use geotextile filter fabric), and instal ballast over the filter. This will stop further degradation in the area of the leak. This would need to be placed across a larger area then the area of piping. How much water do you lose from this pond, rate of flow? You could always instal sheets of HDPE over a large area like the face of the dam while the water remained in the dam, then install ballast over the HDPE.

Sounds like a viable solution but I don't know anything about geotextile filter fabric nor do I know what the acronym HDPE stands for. Excuse my ignorance, can you help?

HDPE: high density polyethylene.

If you are not going to repair the leak, it is imperative that you prevent the water from moving soil particles from within the dam. Otherwise, failure is a sure thing. If the leak is not from an area designed to release hydraulic pressure (i.e toe of the dam, chimney drains, etc) you should place an inverted filter over the leak. Start with gravel, cover that with coarse sand, and then cover that with fine sand. Eventually, over time, that should stop the movement of soil particles. Then you can consider recirculating water. But if you are only going to recirculate water, I hope you have really good insurance because eventual failure is likely.

Your best bet is to find the leak and repair it, but sometimes that is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

They do make flourescent dye which is fairly inexpensive and is not harmful to fish or fowl. If you suspect a leak, release some of the dye at this location and then see if it readily migrates downstream.

If the leak is at the toe of the dam or from a pipe, it may be designed to leak. If that is the case, then forget my alarm. Then you can recirculate leak water as you indicated.

Good Luck!

I poured 10 gallons of milk from the dairy next door hoping it would come thru the dam and show up confirming my suspicions.

However on another pond that had a leak that I was able to drain, I did the same thing. Amazingly, the milk gravitated directly to the leak and left some big white spots which we are focusing on for the repair area.

Use sodium bentonite high swelling clay over the suspected leakage area by the 'sprinkle method'.

This type of clay is easily available and at a reasonable price.There are plenty of websites where you will find all relevant details.

I bought a truckload from Casper, WY for another pond leak. I was able to drain that pond and seal over the leak I found by pouring 10 gallons of milk from the nearby dairy which gravitated directly to the leaks and left a big white spot.

I've had some people tell me Bentonite works and others that it doesn't. I think my leak is near the shore and in a relatively shallow area so it may do the job. I'm listening to all the wonderful input here with the many ideas. This is a very helpful service.

I would advice you stop the leak at the dam area.

If the natural void ratio of the soil material( " a rocky area not covered sufficiently with clay") at the dam area increases more than its limit (the ability to retain its interlocking properties), then eventual failure occurs.

You can use a cementitious waterproofing material available in the market to grout the suspected leak area. Check www.fivestarproducts.com for more details on right kind of material.

Act fast before you make those fishes homeless

Thanks. I've sent them an email to see what they suggest.

use bentonite, you can get it at agricultural store.

A Ram pump may be useful here,[ but u must stop the leak or else youl have a damn failure]

A Ram pump uses the velocity of water coming down the pipe which enters a chamber with a spring loaded valve which slamms shut cousing a higher pressure to push exhausted water up to a higher HEAD than the initial water entering the in pipe.

it sounds very confusing but is so simple. you need to see it in action.

it uses no fuel or electricty and can fill 20 000 litre tank in 2 days. Head about 30 metres.

From Tim, Australia, where water is gold.

I designed a ram pump in one of my senior year design classes. IMHO, it is not a good solution for the problem here. Most of the water is lost going thru the pump, i forget the numbers, but i'd guess that less than 1% of the water would be pumped back up to the pond. it is good for creating pressure though, i think we were generating 60 or more PSI.

Our project was designed for a cabin that was near a river, so that water could be pumped into a stoarage tank higher than the cabin and then let gravity feed water to the cabin.

The stream was simulated by a large storage tank feeding a slanted pipe down to the floor.

I still have it one of the valves i designed hanging in the garage 30 years later.

but it is pond related.......

What did you use to stop the erosion of the sides of the pond???? Our pond is slowly getting larger and shallower. I don't think that it is anywhere near the size of yours though.

Rip-rap is too expensive for me so I'm thinking of trying to find some plants with root systems that will stabalize the earth.

Cement treat the soil lining the sides of the pond, this will stabilize it against erosion.

This will sound funny but I have a friend who would bring her 2 horses to my ponds and walk it around in it. My pond had leaks for a long time now it is sealed.

I do not know if they stirred up the bottom enough to cover the leaks or if their weight packed down the bottom harder but it sealed the leaks

Also my grandfather told me never to let a tree grow near my pond dam. A lot of people like a tree near the dam espically not below the dam. Tree roots will make a dam leak.

tree roots will leak your dam, particulary when they die.

most dams need to be cleaned out, particulary if silt is entering.

cattle will walk in the edges of the dam pushing more mud into the water.

bentonite works great for your leaks, Your dam is quite large, have you concidered your downsteam neighbours if your dam fails in the middle of the night?? liability will be yours, so get it fixed mate.

water is gold

and fish piss in it.