Who knew there could be so many different problems in ponds? I’m being educated.
Gary and I wanted to have a pond dug in one of our pastures. Seems innocent enough, right?
It was harder than we thought, but after a couple of years, it seemed the pond was stable. However, we had some kind of leaks that kept it from staying as full as we wanted it to be.
I read and researched ponds a bit. Some of the choices to fix a leaky pond seemed dire. We didn’t want to drain it all and get machinery out to re-dig it if we didn’t have to.
The soil could be the problem. A strand of sand could cause the pond to lose water.
I thought having an underground spring to feed the pond would be just great, but found out that a spring that gets a little dry can suck the water out of a pond just as easily as it puts water in when flowing.
Not thoroughly packing the soil down in the pond before allowing it to fill could also cause leaks.
Levees could leak if they were not firmly packed when built. Trees around a levee could send their roots into the pond to suck up the water. If the trees died, the dead roots would decay and form little drains to leak away the water.
This time, we had a big, fallen in hole and trench leading from it to the pond. Was it a sink hole? We knew about those from living in Kentucky. Suddenly a hole appears in the ground and can be small or huge and often very deep.
I read about bentonite and how it can be used to plug holes in pond. Bentonite is a natural clay that swells as it absorbs water. The leak in a pond can suction in the bentonite where it will swell as it plugs the small leaks.
Talking to other people, I found some fish farm men had similar leaking problems with their ponds and had to drain and re-dig. They sprinkled lime in the pond and it hardened and sealed it. Some folks added bits of concrete to a hole to seal it.
As many answers to problems as problems with ponds!
Our problem turned out to be a natural one! A beaver. The rising water in the drainage creek running beside the levee on our land had brought in a beaver who had ambitiously dug through our levee.
Thankfully he dug straight through instead of weaving around tunneling through the length of the levee.
The solution was a skilled man and a couple of machines. He dug out below the beaver tunnel all the way down to hard clay. Then he scooped up good clay mixture soil and packed it in the levee where he had removed the dirt to dig out the tunnel. He continued this process packing, adding a little water, smoothing, and packing. The back hoe turned, lifted, packed, and smoothed at his control.
Now, the pond is gaining water with each rain and we don’t have a leak anymore. We do, however, have to be vigilant about beavers and the damage they can cause so quickly.
Reminds me our our spiritual lives. We have to be aware and vigilant of the wiles of the devil and how he works to undermine our relationship with Christ.
The devil wants to weaken our walk with Christ, dilute the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and turn us into dry, dead, lifeless bones.
But as Christians, we are not at the devil’s mercy!
I Corinthians 10:13 tells us: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
Inspect your spiritual levees, be on guard, and let God fill you with His power, life, and living water!
