Pond Leak on In Progress pond

[JediCoconut]

Hello everyone! We are currently working on building our own waterwall / pond. We were in the middle of setting up rocks yesterday and a torrential rain hit us. We checked the water level before going to bed, it has rained all night and the water level is lower this morning. I drained the pond and noticed there is water under the rubber liner. Any ideas on what to do?

My thoughts are maybe we need to seal the liners were they meet? If that is the case what should I use to do so? Any other ideas?

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!

Can you post a picture of your whole pond, including the liner outside of the pond. You might have water running under the liner via surface water.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!!

Are you using more than one liner? If so, are the liners sealed together?

The other thing that comes to mind is that if your edges aren’t secured yet, yes, rainwater could have gotten underneath the liner, and possibly have pushed up from underneath. That happened to ours before we got it completed.

 

[j.w]

@JediCoconut

 

[sissy]

Did you overlap the liners enough before you sealed them and do you have a high water table or is a gutter emptying out near the pond .I had to put underground pipes on 2 of my gutters or the water would run straight to the pond .I also installed a dry creek to keep the water from the higher back yard from running straight to the pond .Thje bridge goes over the top of it

 

[JediCoconut]

Thank you so much for all of the responses, we looked around after reading all of the suggestions and found that the 2 liners were not sealed great. Ordered some primer and tape to secure better.

 

[MikeinBrooklyn]

Hello everyone! We are currently working on building our own waterwall / pond. We were in the middle of setting up rocks yesterday and a torrential rain hit us. We checked the water level before going to bed, it has rained all night and the water level is lower this morning. I drained the pond and noticed there is water under the rubber liner. Any ideas on what to do?

My thoughts are maybe we need to seal the liners were they meet? If that is the case what should I use to do so? Any other ideas?

Before you spend any money on a sealant, there are some quick checks you can do. First, check your folds around the edge. Fill the pond and look/feel for wet spots around the edge. Sometimes a fold looks fine to the eye but can leak at the low point. Next, did you use the non-woven geotex on top of the liner, not just beneath it? If so, make sure water us not 'wicking' out of the pond. Cut it back to the water level if you are. Check you fittings. If you are losing that much water, you will see mud around a leak. If you still cant find your leak, fill the pond and give it as long as it takes to bottom out and not leak anymore. Look for a tear or hole at the new water line. After you check all the "free" fixes, consider your seam. I used two liners, both Firestone EPDM. Firestone makes a sealer you can purchase on Amazon for EPDM. You can also purchase sealers for PVC and HDPE liners on there. Always put your stream/waterfall liner OVER your pond liner, not under it, at the seam. I hope I was able to help.

 

[JediCoconut]

Thank you all for all the great responses, we drained the pond and got the two liners seamed with primer, double sided and one sided on top and it has been on the same water level for days, crossing our fingers!