I agree with you, Adam. Taking a "wait and see" approach now makes the most sense. No reason to start throwing drastic solutions at what could be a one-off, short-term problem.
5:53 A permanent height/depth gauge would provide accurate data over time. Also, measuring water temperature profile in the pond would help calibrate evaporation vs seepage. Keeping track of relative humidity might also be useful.
The biggest thing is that your pond was never at capacity and not filled up and soaked in everywhere - both of their ponds were already filled - I am local to you and my pond is about 30 foot deep and about half a football field and mine is down as well a couple of inches
When you started the pond you mentioned it would take a couple of years to fill. I think a couple of years, plus a couple more to stabilise before considering a well (especially if it could affect the house well) is a very prudent thing to do.
Thankz for the update. You gotta admit while you're mowing and looking up to see a beautiful pond and garage that you didn't have last year has got to be a great feeling!
My pond is smaller, at most with no rain in the middle of summer about 1/2" per day is lost to evaporation. So it would take 72 days with no rain at all or anything from a spring feeding it to drop 3'. Worst I ever saw it was down maybe 1.5'. Unfortunately I think you still have some leaks somewhere. Besides the the center the water can still be going into dam and down and not necessarily out through the side where you had the seeps before.
Hey Mike, thanks for the info. I agree I think we are still losing water elsewhere besides evaporation. Just hard to say where. I also think your pond is a little more impervious to evaporation being in the woods sheltered more from the sun and wind. Ours is in full sun from about 7am to 8:30pm right now. Would love to hear your thoughts on getting a tighter seal
Adding vegetation around and into the pond (especially floating on the surface) seems like it should slow down evaporation by adding shade and wind breaks. Trees would help cool the area around the pond down as well, though I'm not sure how close you can put them what with roots penetrating the dam wall. Still, at the moment your pond looks more like a pool in the desert so I'm not surprised that you're loosing so much to the dry weather. I hope you find natural, sustainable ways to solve your problems! :)
Save that sealant. When the water level rises again, it'll reach a point where it covers virgin dam. If there are any leaks there, you'll want to seal it. You can always go back and seal the bottom if it continues to look like absorption through the bottom. Wait for normal water intake to measure where things are at.
That's good news on the Damit and your water is such a pretty color. We put Damit out on our pond in May and it appears to be working but only time will tell. Rain in Florida has been less than usual, but we're getting it more regular than most areas of the country. Keeping it full by a well will be costly in not on the well, but the electric to power the pump!!
Adam. I hate to hear you are losing water. But, we too are having a dry summer. The trees are already shedding leaves. You know it is dry when the foot high Johnson grass is turning white in the sunshine. I suspect others have pointed it out but… a pond baking in the summer sun will shed water quickly. The temperature of the water rises as it gets shallower. The air movement from rising water vapor and wind increases. This speeds up the rate of evaporation. I suspect if you had a second weather station suspended over the center of your pond… you’d see much higher humidity and wind speeds. It would be interesting to chart both over the course of a few days… my guess is that peak humidity over the pond was in late afternoon… while the other station would be in early morning. Good luck bud and thanks for the update.
If it helps my pond in NH is down a couple of feet as well, its an odd summer. Good news is the water is pretty warm for swimming. The frogs and our ducks seem to like it anyway.
It's so new as well... Natural silting will block seepage into the ground but that takes time...Small particles of clay wash into the pond every time it rains. Your pond will always drop in dry weather and it will improve over time. My ponds are 50+ years old and are down a foot and a half, maybe 2... We have been VERY hot and dry here in north central Arkansas Ozark country, too.
I'm over in CT. Super dry and hot here too. I live near a large reservoir. I'd say it's at least 2ft low right now. I've been watching it for several years and seen it drop many times. Last year it got crazy low. But it bounced back every time and I'm sure it will again. This is a great channel Adam!
I'm sorry you're having this problem with the pond. You've worked hard to make it nice. We got a nice rain here in South Louisiana yesterday & were so grateful!! I'll be praying for rain for y'all. God bless you and your family. ❤️🙏❤️
I live in south central Indiana and my 1-acre pond dried up over the summer. I think you're on to something with the seepage into the water table. I took the opportunity while it was dry to dredge and reline the bottom with clay. Now that the rain has started again it appears to be filling and holding water but only time will tell. I will most definitely try that pond sealer you're recommending if it continues to seep. The local deer and wildlife count on my pond as a water source. Thanks for sharing.
For my pond , I tapped the spring with a trench and laid in a tile then filled with septic rock that then flows into a 4 ft round by 5 ft tall tube. From there back to solid pipe to the pond. I don't have any water loss going in the pond . I must have missed how you tapped into your spring, but a drought sure can eat up the water fast. Hopefully you guys get more rain.
Try to get more water catchment. Divert the flow that has been taking out your driveway upstream from the woods and use gravity to move it to the pond.
Good morning Adam, glad to hear that sealed up the dam nicely. Aside from your water level being low everything looks really nice there buddy! Hopefully that will get it sealed up the rest of the way and you guys get a bit more rain, take care man!
Good morning Adam! You have a lot of company as far as the lack of rain goes. I live in Iowa and while we’ve had a few good rains we are still down probably 2 1/2 to 3 inches down over the year. I was never a huge proponent of global warming, but I am really starting to wonder with all the fires in the US. Now Europe’s on fire, it just seems to be endless. It’s almost like a biblical story. Hang in there my friend, can’t wait to see the progress on the garage, finishing it out, & how you will accessorize the inside as well. Best to you and the family and neighbor Doug of course. Have a wonderful week.
I'm in southwestern PA and built a pond that is setup almost identical to yours, along with the same issues. I put in Damit at almost the same time and noticed that the cloudy, clay particle ridden water cleared up almost immediately and has stayed that way since. I monitored the water for about a week with zero drop and then added about 30" more to it after talking with Shalex. Since then I've had about the same experience as you with it dropping back down as I curse the skies while the rain clouds miss us. I did order more Damit, but am holding off until I give it some time to run it's course a bit longer, plus I don't really feel like being covered in that slime again... I definitely need to treat the upper portions of the dam that were dry when I did my first treatment, but after talking with some people who had water holding issues in the early years of their ponds I am going to put it off and maybe say some prayers. Nice to know I'm not alone. Thanks for the update!
Hi Adam! Sorry your pond is so low now. We have a small pond that is also ground water and run-off fed that is low due to drought as well. However, there is a small stream that starts at a higher elevation on your property and I may chain some garden hose together to see if I can divert a little of the water to the pond to combat evaporation. Good things the pond overflow spills back into a lower portion of the same stream so it would self-regulate. Hope you get rain soon!
Unfortunately you won’t know if your dam is sealed until your pond is full. With the water level this low there is a lot less “head” pressure. I am surprised that you haven’t mentioned the company who built the pond offering a possible solution.
Just about 30 minutes north of you. Built my pond 3 years ago and it's dropped every summer but as the ponds gotten older and silted in/saturated all the ground it's gotten better with time. And the dry we have this year is just crazy. I'm down about 2ft from full pool this spring and it took till this past fall to reach that level.
My spring nearly dries up every summer but runs great in the winter. I believe it’s due to the trees and vegetation using more water during the growing months and when the sap goes down and everything goes dormant the spring come alive.
I'm with you on the not worrying about it at this point. we have tons of springs here and they all mostly stop in July and August . down the road you could tie your house gutters into drains that go to the pond. Now it you get plenty of rain and the pond still stays low then for sure you have issues. Your probably good to go. All our ponds are down about a foot as well. it happens on a dry year.
It will be interesting to see if the Damit helps seal the bottom of the pond. Being new, it could take a year to three to begin to self seal from its own water pressure. And if our huge inground pool is any indication here in South Jersey, we rarely have to add water but have done so twice due this summer to the lack of rain, really high temps, and evaporation. I think it is smart to hold off on the well. Things will likely go back to average (that’s really what weather is all about) in a season or two.
With the dry weather and the heat in our area lately evaporation will affect the water level considerably. My pool loses about a quarter inch a day when the temp gets above 85 degrees. my spring fed ponds are down about a foot or more. Also you have no shade and a limited spring . i have water from around 20 acres above me on a hill .Plus i am at the bottom of a hill and the water table is very high .
If you get cows, sheep, chickens to build organic matter in the soil around the lake and upstream, the grass will hold more water when it rains and your spring will flow more and longer. Not sure if your catchment area is big enough though. The goal is to keep all of the water that crosses your property for as long as possible. Maybe build a small pond at the bottom of the driveway and use a solar pump to push it up to the larger pond.
If your neighbors creek is flowing good and he is ok with you using it pump water to help the pond out. I've been looking at a ram pump for my creek to water my garden. I've been watching land to house he shows a lot of information on his channel on ram pumps.
Evaporation is also dependent on wind. Your pond is not very secluded, whereas in the short vid from one of the other guys, it would appear his pond is really secluded. Evaporation is more in shallow water (like you said) and the ratio of shallow to deep in your pond is quite different to the guy in Indiana - by design: you opted to have quite a large area of shallow pond (I think you did that for a very good reason btw). Anyway, don't be alarmed just yet. Like you found out: there's probably very little seepage. Would that Damit product work it's magic there? It might be that it needs a bit of flow. You might want to consider that Damit will show up in your drinking water as well - however little... Don't know how bio-degradable it is, nor how harmful for consumption.
It should not show up in the well water. If it does the well water is supposed to be considered surface water ( ground water under the influence of surface water) and would require treatment.
G'day HTA, you should do a segment where your viewers send in a photo of their ponds it could be from a little fish pond to whatever size it may generate some interest 👍.
Bummer.....you could be experiencing losses through the bottom as you said. The soil type...perhaps a seam of gravel or what not....can allow it to go down into the ground. My parent's pond is similar size and located in Crawford county with exposure to wind. No surface water flow to the pond unless it rains like crazy. And it's down a foot with our weather. But, they have great clay bottom. If you pull from well, you do risk depressing the ground water and impacting supply to your home...depending how hard you draw water from it. Do you divert gutter run off to the pond? That's a way to get some quick hits of water when we do experience a shower or thunderstorm. With your collective roof square footage...it could be meaningful. I am sure it's frustrating....keep at it and thanks for the updates!
1" rain falling on 1000 sq ft roof is over 600 gallons of water that you can catch and route to the pond. Between your garage and house and any sidewalks, is that 3000 square feet? Assuming so, there's another 7,200 gallons that could have reached the pond from your 4" of rain. It's nice clean water. If you catch stormwater that's already flowing on the ground, you'd need a silt catch before routing it to the pond, so you don't silt up your pond.
just a thought the damn seepage may have it origins above the current water line and now that it drain down and then evaporated below the possible inlets the damn appears to have dried up it would not hurt while the water is low to spread a few inches of clay along the damn water line in the pond basin to ensure that the seepage does not resume when the water level rises again rises
dike isnt leaking now cause the water is low= less pressure pushing it through the dike. get some ducks to seal the pond, they churn up the edge and plug it better than anything else
Ideas for more runoff into pond: Shape the land a touch to make sure any water between house and pond runs into pond. Perhaps gather water from downspouts of the house and ship it via drain tile to the pond.
i have heard from guys who do excavating it takes about 9 years for dirt to seddle back down and compact together after digging so yours has a while to go seal up
Hey Adam, if you are thinking about a well at all call Mohr Well Drilling in Greenville, they will be able to answer all your questions and they actually have a pond that is fed off a well.
That's a shame, Adam. Any chance you could find another spring to dig down and feed into the pond? Drilling a new well definitely could screw up your house well.
You really need the right kind of ground and a high water table to make a pond work without it costing you a fortune. What I have seen near me. We all have surface wells in my area and the folks that put them in hand no problem. Water table is like 4 feet below the surface of the ground. My well is 12 foot deep and in the 48 years I have lived here never ran out of water. Problem is as you get older you can't take care of them and most that put them in around here 40 years ago are just full of weeds and crap. They are very high maintenance. When I had my well put in 50 years ago they said my ground was perfect for a pond cause 12 foot down is gray clay. I said nope to much maintenance for me.
You guys getting 4 inches is lucky. Here in texas we didnt even get a single inch over june or july. We usually get around 5-6 inches between june and july.
Mother nature never loses. Ponds in Rensselaer County NY are all under stress as well. Not only are rain amounts low, humidity levels are half of normal levels. When we normally run at 80%+ humidity, we are running at mid to upper 40% humidity levels. Stay the coarse. No knee jerk reactions.
Dig an irrigation well on solar panels and let the water flow every day that the sun shines! Empty the pond and put 2” of bentonite all over the bottom and dam!
Still a beautiful pond, Adam. I wonder if the age of your pond is also an issue? Will sediment eventually help “seal” the pond like Damit does? Nice job. -Ed
Start saving up some cash and then in 3 or 4 years put in a well and a water pumping windmill. Would add a lot of charm to the estate and help keep the pond full. The shallower the well, the larger pumping cylinder you can put down for a given size windmill. 8' wheel is the most popular size and when you get into the 10 footers on up the price goes into orbit.
Not trying to bring you down, but this is almost exactly what happened to my pond. Looks like your dam is not leaking anymore because the water level lower then it? Two things you need to do is. You need to line it with bentonite, you are going to waste tons of time and money on trying to use products. Then you need a well, it will not affect your house water at all. (They drill wells right next to each other in subdivisions) You should try to get a 30-50gpm well pump. Typically when ground water drops that low it takes years to get it built back up. We have a 3/4 acre pond and we are in a bad drought last year and this year, since we used the bentonite it’s down about 3” this year.
Do you think that when you dug out the keyway that, maybe, you should have dug a trench wide enough to get the roller in and do it as you originally wanted... ie. by backfilling and compacting in layers.. I have always preferred to err on the side of caution and a job like that can only be done once to be fair so over-engineer that stuff so it doesn't stand a chance. That being said, the polymer you used, "Damit" (spelling??) looked a lot like the flocculant polymer we used in a small, on-site, water (flotation) treatment plant at a company I worked at about 7 years ago.
Evaporation can definitely account for more than one would think but given your dam leaks and the soil content I saw as you were digging your theory could hold water. (See what I did there?) I'll put together another pond water level video in August. I still have stakes in the water from last August. Up and down quite a bit since then!
I still can't get used to calling it a "dam". Common terminology in the South dictates that farm ponds usually have "levees". Dams holds back a creek/river to create a reservoir, but the water still flows through/over it continuously.
Is the water deep enough to know if your product is actually working since it might have been leaking more when the water was higher? Since it's so low you might be getting a false positive on the seeping.
It appears the only thing that matter here is rates. The rate of replenishing water is less than the rate of water leaving the pond. The spring is not supplying enough water (re: rate of flow) to meet the loss rates. As you say the losses may be from different sources. But, the combination of the loss rates are greater than the rates of replenishment. Has the spring flow depleted since you started this pond project? What data did you have beforehand regarding the spring flow rates?
Don’t worry the rains will come. The only time we get a good summer here in northwestern Pennsylvania is when they call it a drought.Then will have 4/5 years of wet summers and wishing we had sunny days.
Agree - last year during the pond build, we couldn’t get a week of dry weather. Adam rented the excavator and it rained most of that week. Now we can’t hardly buy a few rainy days…. It will all work out… as many have said… patience
I would get the thing manually filled, get it actually up to its critical level - at the moment you are losing more water exponentially due to its shrinking size. Full it up properly
Can't really tell if the dam is truly sealed when the water level is not even on the sides of the dam. When the pond fills and all that water puts pressure on the dam , you will know then .
A silver lining of the fact that it may slowly be infiltrating the ground... your house well is less likely to go dry if it is slowly being replenished by the seeping water.
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Thanks for the update!
I agree with you, Adam. Taking a "wait and see" approach now makes the most sense. No reason to start throwing drastic solutions at what could be a one-off, short-term problem.
this whole video series on your pond has been fascinating. This stuff isn't so easy as one might think.
Nope and we’re learning as we go. Looking back it probably would have made more sense to hire a professional but we’ve sure learned a lot
These updates are more intriguing than the pond build itself
5:53
A permanent height/depth gauge would provide accurate data over time.
Also, measuring water temperature profile in the pond would help calibrate evaporation vs seepage.
Keeping track of relative humidity might also be useful.
The biggest thing is that your pond was never at capacity and not filled up and soaked in everywhere - both of their ponds were already filled - I am local to you and my pond is about 30 foot deep and about half a football field and mine is down as well a couple of inches
Exactly! Give it time. It needs to get full. The level will vary year to year.
When you started the pond you mentioned it would take a couple of years to fill. I think a couple of years, plus a couple more to stabilise before considering a well (especially if it could affect the house well) is a very prudent thing to do.
Beautiful pond. Awesome video
Thankz for the update. You gotta admit while you're mowing and looking up to see a beautiful pond and garage that you didn't have last year has got to be a great feeling!
Yes we are very fortunate to have accomplished so much in just a few short years. We are very greatful
My pond is smaller, at most with no rain in the middle of summer about 1/2" per day is lost to evaporation. So it would take 72 days with no rain at all or anything from a spring feeding it to drop 3'. Worst I ever saw it was down maybe 1.5'. Unfortunately I think you still have some leaks somewhere. Besides the the center the water can still be going into dam and down and not necessarily out through the side where you had the seeps before.
Hey Mike, thanks for the info. I agree I think we are still losing water elsewhere besides evaporation. Just hard to say where. I also think your pond is a little more impervious to evaporation being in the woods sheltered more from the sun and wind. Ours is in full sun from about 7am to 8:30pm right now. Would love to hear your thoughts on getting a tighter seal
Adding vegetation around and into the pond (especially floating on the surface) seems like it should slow down evaporation by adding shade and wind breaks. Trees would help cool the area around the pond down as well, though I'm not sure how close you can put them what with roots penetrating the dam wall. Still, at the moment your pond looks more like a pool in the desert so I'm not surprised that you're loosing so much to the dry weather. I hope you find natural, sustainable ways to solve your problems! :)
Thanks, for the update. Smart move on not Drilling just yet.
Thanks for the update!!👍👍
Save that sealant. When the water level rises again, it'll reach a point where it covers virgin dam. If there are any leaks there, you'll want to seal it. You can always go back and seal the bottom if it continues to look like absorption through the bottom. Wait for normal water intake to measure where things are at.
That's good news on the Damit and your water is such a pretty color. We put Damit out on our pond in May and it appears to be working but only time will tell. Rain in Florida has been less than usual, but we're getting it more regular than most areas of the country. Keeping it full by a well will be costly in not on the well, but the electric to power the pump!!
Thank you for the update!!!
Adam. I hate to hear you are losing water. But, we too are having a dry summer. The trees are already shedding leaves. You know it is dry when the foot high Johnson grass is turning white in the sunshine.
I suspect others have pointed it out but… a pond baking in the summer sun will shed water quickly. The temperature of the water rises as it gets shallower. The air movement from rising water vapor and wind increases. This speeds up the rate of evaporation. I suspect if you had a second weather station suspended over the center of your pond… you’d see much higher humidity and wind speeds. It would be interesting to chart both over the course of a few days… my guess is that peak humidity over the pond was in late afternoon… while the other station would be in early morning.
Good luck bud and thanks for the update.
I hope you get rain soon Adam.
It's dry and pond levels are dropping here in Virginia also.
Good luck.
If it helps my pond in NH is down a couple of feet as well, its an odd summer. Good news is the water is pretty warm for swimming. The frogs and our ducks seem to like it anyway.
It's so new as well... Natural silting will block seepage into the ground but that takes time...Small particles of clay wash into the pond every time it rains. Your pond will always drop in dry weather and it will improve over time. My ponds are 50+ years old and are down a foot and a half, maybe 2... We have been VERY hot and dry here in north central Arkansas Ozark country, too.
I'm over in CT. Super dry and hot here too. I live near a large reservoir. I'd say it's at least 2ft low right now. I've been watching it for several years and seen it drop many times. Last year it got crazy low. But it bounced back every time and I'm sure it will again. This is a great channel Adam!
Best of luck with the pond. House addition looks great from the pond.
I'm sorry you're having this problem with the pond. You've worked hard to make it nice. We got a nice rain here in South Louisiana yesterday & were so grateful!! I'll be praying for rain for y'all. God bless you and your family. ❤️🙏❤️
I live in south central Indiana and my 1-acre pond dried up over the summer. I think you're on to something with the seepage into the water table. I took the opportunity while it was dry to dredge and reline the bottom with clay. Now that the rain has started again it appears to be filling and holding water but only time will tell. I will most definitely try that pond sealer you're recommending if it continues to seep. The local deer and wildlife count on my pond as a water source. Thanks for sharing.
I’m rooting for you bro, let’s hope it rebounds and you have an awesome pond fill.
For my pond , I tapped the spring with a trench and laid in a tile then filled with septic rock that then flows into a 4 ft round by 5 ft tall tube. From there back to solid pipe to the pond. I don't have any water loss going in the pond . I must have missed how you tapped into your spring, but a drought sure can eat up the water fast. Hopefully you guys get more rain.
Thanks for the video, always enjoy watching!
Try to get more water catchment. Divert the flow that has been taking out your driveway upstream from the woods and use gravity to move it to the pond.
Your Pond is in my prayers as well as everyone else that is currently being effected by this abnormally Dry and Warm early Summer Season.
Good morning Adam, glad to hear that sealed up the dam nicely. Aside from your water level being low everything looks really nice there buddy! Hopefully that will get it sealed up the rest of the way and you guys get a bit more rain, take care man!
Thanks Davey! Hope to see you at Bunyan this year
Good morning Adam! You have a lot of company as far as the lack of rain goes. I live in Iowa and while we’ve had a few good rains we are still down probably 2 1/2 to 3 inches down over the year. I was never a huge proponent of global warming, but I am really starting to wonder with all the fires in the US. Now Europe’s on fire, it just seems to be endless. It’s almost like a biblical story. Hang in there my friend, can’t wait to see the progress on the garage, finishing it out, & how you will accessorize the inside as well. Best to you and the family and neighbor Doug of course. Have a wonderful week.
Honestly, with all the shale and rock in that dam and pond, I dont see how its holding any water at all!! Good Luck with it.
I'm in southwestern PA and built a pond that is setup almost identical to yours, along with the same issues. I put in Damit at almost the same time and noticed that the cloudy, clay particle ridden water cleared up almost immediately and has stayed that way since. I monitored the water for about a week with zero drop and then added about 30" more to it after talking with Shalex. Since then I've had about the same experience as you with it dropping back down as I curse the skies while the rain clouds miss us. I did order more Damit, but am holding off until I give it some time to run it's course a bit longer, plus I don't really feel like being covered in that slime again... I definitely need to treat the upper portions of the dam that were dry when I did my first treatment, but after talking with some people who had water holding issues in the early years of their ponds I am going to put it off and maybe say some prayers. Nice to know I'm not alone. Thanks for the update!
I live in the Arkansas Ozarks. We've only received maybe 1/2 inch of rain since the first of June. We are bone dry. Very unusual for here.
Hi Adam! Sorry your pond is so low now. We have a small pond that is also ground water and run-off fed that is low due to drought as well. However, there is a small stream that starts at a higher elevation on your property and I may chain some garden hose together to see if I can divert a little of the water to the pond to combat evaporation. Good things the pond overflow spills back into a lower portion of the same stream so it would self-regulate. Hope you get rain soon!
Unfortunately you won’t know if your dam is sealed until your pond is full. With the water level this low there is a lot less “head” pressure. I am surprised that you haven’t mentioned the company who built the pond offering a possible solution.
Thanks for the update, and please keep us posted
Just about 30 minutes north of you. Built my pond 3 years ago and it's dropped every summer but as the ponds gotten older and silted in/saturated all the ground it's gotten better with time. And the dry we have this year is just crazy. I'm down about 2ft from full pool this spring and it took till this past fall to reach that level.
That is very reassuring. Thank you for sharing that
My spring nearly dries up every summer but runs great in the winter. I believe it’s due to the trees and vegetation using more water during the growing months and when the sap goes down and everything goes dormant the spring come alive.
I'm with you on the not worrying about it at this point. we have tons of springs here and they all mostly stop in July and August . down the road you could tie your house gutters into drains that go to the pond. Now it you get plenty of rain and the pond still stays low then for sure you have issues. Your probably good to go. All our ponds are down about a foot as well. it happens on a dry year.
It will be interesting to see if the Damit helps seal the bottom of the pond. Being new, it could take a year to three to begin to self seal from its own water pressure. And if our huge inground pool is any indication here in South Jersey, we rarely have to add water but have done so twice due this summer to the lack of rain, really high temps, and evaporation. I think it is smart to hold off on the well. Things will likely go back to average (that’s really what weather is all about) in a season or two.
If you think of how a pond forms in nature, there's a steady flow of water at all times and it takes years for the bottom to form. Time and water.
Thanks for the more pleasant music!
Better get used and prepared for more dry summers!
With the dry weather and the heat in our area lately evaporation will affect the water level considerably. My pool loses about a quarter inch a day when the temp gets above 85 degrees. my spring fed ponds are down about a foot or more. Also you have no shade and a limited spring . i have water from around 20 acres above me on a hill .Plus i am at the bottom of a hill and the water table is very high .
If you get cows, sheep, chickens to build organic matter in the soil around the lake and upstream, the grass will hold more water when it rains and your spring will flow more and longer. Not sure if your catchment area is big enough though. The goal is to keep all of the water that crosses your property for as long as possible. Maybe build a small pond at the bottom of the driveway and use a solar pump to push it up to the larger pond.
Even clay ponds are not 100% sealed, you need to line it - if it’s going down that much it’s definitely leaking and not evaporation
If your neighbors creek is flowing good and he is ok with you using it pump water to help the pond out. I've been looking at a ram pump for my creek to water my garden. I've been watching land to house he shows a lot of information on his channel on ram pumps.
I put a well in my pond n have not had any issues with the house well.i can keep it full but it's not cheap.the well nor the bill.
Evaporation is also dependent on wind. Your pond is not very secluded, whereas in the short vid from one of the other guys, it would appear his pond is really secluded.
Evaporation is more in shallow water (like you said) and the ratio of shallow to deep in your pond is quite different to the guy in Indiana - by design: you opted to have quite a large area of shallow pond (I think you did that for a very good reason btw).
Anyway, don't be alarmed just yet. Like you found out: there's probably very little seepage. Would that Damit product work it's magic there? It might be that it needs a bit of flow.
You might want to consider that Damit will show up in your drinking water as well - however little... Don't know how bio-degradable it is, nor how harmful for consumption.
It should not show up in the well water. If it does the well water is supposed to be considered surface water ( ground water under the influence of surface water) and would require treatment.
G'day HTA, you should do a segment where your viewers send in a photo of their ponds it could be from a little fish pond to whatever size it may generate some interest 👍.
Bummer.....you could be experiencing losses through the bottom as you said. The soil type...perhaps a seam of gravel or what not....can allow it to go down into the ground. My parent's pond is similar size and located in Crawford county with exposure to wind. No surface water flow to the pond unless it rains like crazy. And it's down a foot with our weather. But, they have great clay bottom. If you pull from well, you do risk depressing the ground water and impacting supply to your home...depending how hard you draw water from it.
Do you divert gutter run off to the pond? That's a way to get some quick hits of water when we do experience a shower or thunderstorm. With your collective roof square footage...it could be meaningful.
I am sure it's frustrating....keep at it and thanks for the updates!
1" rain falling on 1000 sq ft roof is over 600 gallons of water that you can catch and route to the pond. Between your garage and house and any sidewalks, is that 3000 square feet? Assuming so, there's another 7,200 gallons that could have reached the pond from your 4" of rain. It's nice clean water.
If you catch stormwater that's already flowing on the ground, you'd need a silt catch before routing it to the pond, so you don't silt up your pond.
I wouldn’t worry to much man just gotta wait it out
just a thought
the damn seepage may have it origins above the current water line
and now that it drain down and then evaporated below the possible inlets the damn appears to have dried up
it would not hurt while the water is low to spread a few inches of clay
along the damn water line in the pond basin
to ensure that the seepage does not resume when the water level rises again rises
dike isnt leaking now cause the water is low= less pressure pushing it through the dike. get some ducks to seal the pond, they churn up the edge and plug it better than anything else
Ideas for more runoff into pond: Shape the land a touch to make sure any water between house and pond runs into pond. Perhaps gather water from downspouts of the house and ship it via drain tile to the pond.
I think he built swales to prevent that, since that water would have animal feces, perhaps fertilizer/weed poison, silt, etc.
Can you do an open loop geothermal there? You'd keep feeding the pond with water and air condition your home. Research it.
i have heard from guys who do excavating it takes about 9 years for dirt to seddle back down and compact together after digging so yours has a while to go seal up
Hey Adam, if you are thinking about a well at all call Mohr Well Drilling in Greenville, they will be able to answer all your questions and they actually have a pond that is fed off a well.
Appreciate the info. I will definitely give them a call
Thanks for the update! I think its more evaporation than anything.
I have the same weather station. I love it!
That's a shame, Adam. Any chance you could find another spring to dig down and feed into the pond? Drilling a new well definitely could screw up your house well.
You really need the right kind of ground and a high water table to make a pond work without it costing you a fortune. What I have seen near me. We all have surface wells in my area and the folks that put them in hand no problem. Water table is like 4 feet below the surface of the ground. My well is 12 foot deep and in the 48 years I have lived here never ran out of water. Problem is as you get older you can't take care of them and most that put them in around here 40 years ago are just full of weeds and crap. They are very high maintenance. When I had my well put in 50 years ago they said my ground was perfect for a pond cause 12 foot down is gray clay. I said nope to much maintenance for me.
What about wet/swamp spots in your woods that you could tile and supplement the spring?
I hope I am wrong, but I don't think the dam is sealed yet. I do appreciate the updates, 'cause I love ponds.
You guys getting 4 inches is lucky. Here in texas we didnt even get a single inch over june or july. We usually get around 5-6 inches between june and july.
Mother nature never loses. Ponds in Rensselaer County NY are all under stress as well. Not only are rain amounts low, humidity levels are half of normal levels. When we normally run at 80%+ humidity, we are running at mid to upper 40% humidity levels.
Stay the coarse. No knee jerk reactions.
Dig an irrigation well on solar panels and let the water flow every day that the sun shines!
Empty the pond and put 2” of bentonite all over the bottom and dam!
Lots of rain supposed to be heading to north east PA tonight.
Great video. 👍 Greetings from Denmark. 😊😊
If you have a creek nearby maybe look into a hydraulic ram pump? powered by the water flow so no electric pumps.
Still a beautiful pond, Adam. I wonder if the age of your pond is also an issue? Will sediment eventually help “seal” the pond like Damit does? Nice job. -Ed
Yes I think that is also a factor. I’ve heard ponds tend to seal themselves with time as they silt in
Start saving up some cash and then in 3 or 4 years put in a well and a water pumping windmill. Would add a lot of charm to the estate and help keep the pond full. The shallower the well, the larger pumping cylinder you can put down for a given size windmill. 8' wheel is the most popular size and when you get into the 10 footers on up the price goes into orbit.
Awesome video
Is that product a fix that will last for years? Will it have to be repeated? Keep up the good work.
Not trying to bring you down, but this is almost exactly what happened to my pond. Looks like your dam is not leaking anymore because the water level lower then it? Two things you need to do is. You need to line it with bentonite, you are going to waste tons of time and money on trying to use products. Then you need a well, it will not affect your house water at all. (They drill wells right next to each other in subdivisions) You should try to get a 30-50gpm well pump. Typically when ground water drops that low it takes years to get it built back up. We have a 3/4 acre pond and we are in a bad drought last year and this year, since we used the bentonite it’s down about 3” this year.
Do you think that when you dug out the keyway that, maybe, you should have dug a trench wide enough to get the roller in and do it as you originally wanted... ie. by backfilling and compacting in layers.. I have always preferred to err on the side of caution and a job like that can only be done once to be fair so over-engineer that stuff so it doesn't stand a chance.
That being said, the polymer you used, "Damit" (spelling??) looked a lot like the flocculant polymer we used in a small, on-site, water (flotation) treatment plant at a company I worked at about 7 years ago.
Nice update on a crappy situation. Good thing is, you don’t have weeds growing up yet! Borrow some of that water from your other neighbor. 😜
Need a good plan to tap into it
Yeah I think you will be ok… it’s just dry!
Love your channel
Evaporation can definitely account for more than one would think but given your dam leaks and the soil content I saw as you were digging your theory could hold water. (See what I did there?) I'll put together another pond water level video in August. I still have stakes in the water from last August. Up and down quite a bit since then!
I still can't get used to calling it a "dam". Common terminology in the South dictates that farm ponds usually have "levees". Dams holds back a creek/river to create a reservoir, but the water still flows through/over it continuously.
You should run your downspouts from your gutters to your pond.
My pond is down about 3 feet as well.
Maybe you ask Chris Guins. He is an expert on ponds.
You can always do a rain dance Adam..👍👍💙🌬🌩☔
Is the water deep enough to know if your product is actually working since it might have been leaking more when the water was higher? Since it's so low you might be getting a false positive on the seeping.
It will do better when fully saturated and full. Nice one
It appears the only thing that matter here is rates. The rate of replenishing water is less than the rate of water leaving the pond. The spring is not supplying enough water (re: rate of flow) to meet the loss rates. As you say the losses may be from different sources. But, the combination of the loss rates are greater than the rates of replenishment.
Has the spring flow depleted since you started this pond project? What data did you have beforehand regarding the spring flow rates?
Have patience young man.
Don’t worry the rains will come. The only time we get a good summer here in northwestern Pennsylvania is when they call it a drought.Then will have 4/5 years of wet summers and wishing we had sunny days.
Agree - last year during the pond build, we couldn’t get a week of dry weather. Adam rented the excavator and it rained most of that week. Now we can’t hardly buy a few rainy days….
It will all work out… as many have said… patience
I would get the thing manually filled, get it actually up to its critical level - at the moment you are losing more water exponentially due to its shrinking size.
Full it up properly
there is a product that might help with evaporation, it is called "Liquid pool cover" look it up as it may be just what you need.
Can't really tell if the dam is truly sealed when the water level is not even on the sides of the dam. When the pond fills and all that water puts pressure on the dam , you will know then .
Patience is a virtue.
I think all your rain is down here in Australia, our average where I live is usually around 1400mm, for the 8 months from November we recorded 3500mm
After the dry years they have had they need it!
Time to get those black plastic balls they used to lower evaporation. They are easy to remove when not needed. Prevent algae.
A silver lining of the fact that it may slowly be infiltrating the ground... your house well is less likely to go dry if it is slowly being replenished by the seeping water.