Water behind liner

Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
70
Reaction score
0
Location
S. E. Texas
Hello to everyone. I am new to this forum although I have read the questions and replies. I live in SE Texas close to the Gulf so I am not a lot above sea level so we do have a problem with big rains draining off. This leads up to my situation. I have built a new pond. I dug it back in Oct last year. I installed the liner and filled it with water and left it like that until winter was over. It is oval in shape 15' x 20'. Now I have my water fall in service and fish are swimming around. Here is the situation. I noticed that my liner was bulging out or ballooning at a couple of places on the sides. I assume that this caused from water behind the liner. We have had quite a bit of rain lately and like I said it drains off very slow. Today I notice another place that is ballooning and also I had to get in the water today to clean out the drain from some leaves and I noticed the bottom is ballooning also. Just how serious is this problem and what can I do about it. I was thinking about trying to pull the liner up to tighten it up but thought it would just fill back up with water. Does anyone have any ideas on how bad this is or what I can do about it.
Thanks
Bart
 

koiguy1969

GIGGETY-GIGGETY!!
Joined
Dec 15, 2008
Messages
10,587
Reaction score
6,408
Location
Michigan zone 5b
due to my own forgetfulness,and getting side tracked i managed to allow in the neighborhood of 200 - 300 gallons of water under my liner i wiggled a garden hose down in between the liner and ground as far as i could. it didnt make it all the way down but the weight of the water pushed the water to the outside and it created a seal around the hose. i bought a $10.00 drill motor operated pump and got the water out with little trouble
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,340
Reaction score
29,091
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
You might want to build some french drains, or put make the ground higher where the water is collecting or going to your pond, to path it around your pond. That will keep it from happening again.
 

DrCase

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
4,400
Reaction score
788
Location
Arkansas
Hardiness Zone
7a
If you can raise your ponds edge higher than the ground around it. it should have more pressure in side the pond to keep the liner in place
 

taherrmann4

Tmann
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
3,142
Reaction score
701
Location
Louisville KY
Hardiness Zone
6
Country
United States
Bart, I have the same problem after very heavy rains. If my trees and landscaping were not grown up so much I would put in a french drain around the pond but I do not want to destroy the landscaping. So what I have done is I put several decent size rocks around the perimeter of the pond on the bottom as well as a few throughout the middle. I still get some water under the liner but it drains off in a few days. Before I put the rocks in I used my pond vac and sucked it out under the liner, not a practical way but at the time it worked. I thought about putting in a perforated dran pipe in one end of the pond rather than all the way around, digging a hole straight down as close to the side of the pond as possible and then ot to the yard. The reason I think this may work is that when I use my pond vac to suck the water out I only put it in one area of the pond and it takes all the water out from underneath. Water will go where there is least resistance so that is why I think it will work, but I am by no means an engineer. I am going to try it this year. Your problem may be different than mine because you are so close to sea level and I just didn't plan the drainage around the pond right in the first place. Maybe you could install a sump pump pit with french drains running into it?

Let us know what you do and if it works..
 

taherrmann4

Tmann
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
3,142
Reaction score
701
Location
Louisville KY
Hardiness Zone
6
Country
United States
This should have been my sign 6 years ago when I built it, that's probably what my dog was thinking.
 

Attachments

  • Construction (8).JPG
    Construction (8).JPG
    34.6 KB · Views: 659

sissy

sissy
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
33,086
Reaction score
15,702
Location
Axton virginia
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
7A
Country
United States
sad when you think the dog is smarter than you.He just wanted to have the last laugh taherrmann4 .You probably dug up all the bones and things he buried too LOL
 
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
70
Reaction score
0
Location
S. E. Texas
Just an update on my problem. I took Koiguy's suggestion and used a drill operated pump that I all ready had and pumped out all the water. I also noticed where the water was coming in at. It was running down between the liner and earth. So I had some liner material left over so I cut some strips about 24" wide. I then put down more sand around the perimeter of the pond making it higher than the surrounding yard and slanted it to the outside. I then laid down the liner and place one edge under the top layer of cap stones and laid the rest down the slant. Over that I reinstalled the walkway I had built. This will divert the water away from the edge of the pond and down the slant and into the yard. I think this should take care of this problem. If not I will try something else.
Thanks again
 
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
98
Reaction score
2
Location
Southwest England
hey,

surface runoff is not your problem, groundwater is.

Short of concreting and draining large areas around your property, groundwater levels will stay the same.

What was previously meant, is getting the actual pond water surface level ABOVE ground level. For every 1cm/m^2 of depth added above ground, you will get 100kg/m^2 added pressure to the pond floor.

Theoretically just a few cm (such as a brick, or block as you yanks use - suffice i should have used inch/feet and pounds/ouces for this haha), will create a higher pressure on the ground 'pushing' the liner down with higher pressure than the ground water will exert upward.

Think of it as keeping a boat afloat in reverse, your liner is the boat hull and you want it to sink!
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,340
Reaction score
29,091
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
Great bart, hope that fixes your problem.

My pond is at the bottom of a steep sloped yard, During the build I made sure to make the uphill side slope back away from the pond. It did not take much of a slope to send the water around the pond. Also added some dug in shallow pits and place gravel in them, mini french drains. So far have not had any issues, and we have had some heavy rains.

Your fix may have taken care of it. Next rain go out with a umbrella and walk the pond check for any running water going where you don't want it too. I did that quite a few times right after I had the pond lined and sloped to make sure I had not missed a path the water decided it wanted to take, where I did not want it to go.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads


Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
30,782
Messages
508,591
Members
13,043
Latest member
cisifom

Latest Threads

Top