Acceptable pond leak?

[Nepen]

you would never know if the leak is acceptable until you wait until the leak actually stop. Because you could have a leak way down at the bottom of the pond and all the water leaks out will not stop until your pond is empty, and is you keep putting more water in, you would never know you have a leak at the bottom.
I would fix it now, so not to have to worry about putting in more water.

It could be as easy as water wicking. If you have rocks as pond edge, the rocks could wick your pond water out (I had to turn my rocks one by one, and i saw a few water line under the rock that leads out to the ground around the pond even though my liner are higher than the water line). Since I eliminate any rock that touch both water and ground, i got a lot less water loss rate. I have expose line that way, but I dont mind, in time, it just got dirt over it and just looks dirty

 

[Mmathis]

To add to what @Nepen said about wicking -- that's something that sneaks up on you. Plants are notorious for wicking water out of a pond -- not by the roots [which they also do....], but by capillary action.

 

[Lisak1]

To add to what @Nepen said about wicking -- that's something that sneaks up on you. Plants are notorious for wicking water out of a pond -- not by the roots [which they also do....], but by capillary action.

So true! We have a taro plant in a smallish pot - no drain holes in the pot. We add two gallons of water to the pot everyday and the plant is still sending roots out of the sides looking for water. And that's just one plant!