The Changing Pond Views
When the ground is frozen and the rains come all at once, the pondwaters will rise overnight, usually three or four days after the rains occur.
And just as quickly they will recede and recede and recede until we think "Who pulled the plug?"
Dave has decided to make the stone edge at the water's lowest point, which is currently here. At the left hand corner (our pond is triangularly shaped) we would love to build a waterfall.
I like to have the 'before' picture included here, to signify all the work yet to do, sigh, as we wait for the return of the sun.
Mel..
ReplyDeleteHaving two ponds on our little ranch, I have some experience with this (the hard kind..LOL). We have a 2 acre pond that was build just after WWII and it was draining down like yours. We consulted with several people (hard to find a pond "expert") and they each told us that we needed to drain it and fix the clay that lines the pond and holds in the water...that there must be damage to the clay liner somewhere and water is seeping out through the dirt. Since we couldn't afford to do that, we lived with the rise and fall of the water. Finally, one very hot summer, the water evaporated the normal low point and we found that there was a break in the PVC overflow pipe! We simply cut it off, glued on a coupler and replaced the rest of the pipe. You have to be sure to make the pipe the exact same length it was before or the water can rise too high and break your dam. Anyway....unless you're in an extreme drought, you shouldn't be able to see the top of your drain pipe...it sound just look like a hole in the pond...where the water cascades whenever it's too high. Just the fact that you're seeing that pipe AND the fact that your ground is predominantely clay tells me that your problem is very likely a break in the pvc pipe.
Carol
Houston