Wellthatis ot a bona fide way of determining permeability of your
soil. You need to take a collection of samples formthe area yu would
like to have the pond and have iut analyzed for lcay content. That
will tellyu if its suitable for the pond. There areb quite a few
things that canbe done to make it suitable if it does not have
suitable soil. You can haul in clay andline it, and compact it, which
is really a pretty common thing and fairly cheap. Blue merle clay is
best clay but other clays according to location is also suitable. Your
county extension agent can giveyu thelow down. You can also mix in
sodium bentonite which is a collodial clay which is also used for lots
of ladfills etc to make them retain water so undesirebale substances
do not get into the water table. Its not allthat expensive but it
needs to be worked into the soil when you dig the pond. Its just
about as good as having a oiner in the pond and makes for a very good
water tight pond if done right. There is ots of information onthis out
onthe web and from various companies. Look up bentonite corporation or
Ammerican Collodial and contact rthem for info as well as yout county
extension agent. My soils are predominately sand, and I mixeds in
bentonite (sodium) when I built my ponds over 20 years ago and they
have held water just fine. Oncx eyu start gettnbg sediment inthem it
even helps seal things up. Testing as yu have done is not a true way,
as even n good soils / clays your going to get some water that Thats
gets soaked up in rthe surounding soils so it appears its leaking when
it is not.. The only way to really tell is by having the soils
analyized and aperc /. permeality test done.About $20 at most soils
labs or universities. If I canhold water in sandy soil there is no
reason water wil not hold in any others oils if you really wnat a pond
anduse sodium (western type) bentonite) Do not allow just anyone to
dig a paond for you, as there is proper ways and improper ways and
nothing is worse than a pind with an improper silway or drainpipe or
inlet section or improper bentonite application. Ask how may other
ponds they dug and ask for references adn go look and talk to the
ponds owners. One other thing, and they wil tell you the same thing
if yuy get ahold of foks that know how to dig ponds and the county
extension agent shoul dhave a booklety for free nthis subject. but
anyhow, keep yur depth along rthe banks as deep as possible and it
will cut down on any aquatic weeds and growth of other plants.,
Shallow tapering edges make for lots of unwanted aquatic planat growth
that leads to a pond that appears to be leaking as it exoises the
bottom soils with very little water losses due to natural seepage or
evaporaition. All ponds leak or seep water so do not expecxt it to be
100 percent water tight as its not going to be. Its considered
normal..

Regards'

Roy


On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 15:36:41 -0500, ledoktre
wrote:

Hi,

Ive been reading around on the internet, and finding that this seems
to be the place to post a question :-)

We've got about 10 acres of land where we live, and we'd like to
consider making a pond. Size is of course determined on expense, and
the other typical factors involved.

My initial question I would ask, is, we happen to have ground on what
you might call a limestone base. We've dug down say 15 feet already,
just to see what would happen, and after a rain of a couple inches,
the water is gone in no time.

Is there some material a person can use to stop "seeping"?

Someone had suggested trying to find some type of clay, but I'd like
to get some opintions before we do anything else.

Thanks,

Doc


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