Pond leaking with low edge and no obvious solution

[trackzles99]

Hi all,

Totally new to ponds. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Our pond (photo included) was leaking quite a bit of water. I tore up out all the extra groundcover to expose the edges and I have found a low lip. I have attached pics here, both the full setup with the two fix options and a close-up picture of where the low edge is. The challenge is that the former owners put a massive rock on top of the liner, and only about 1 inch of liner is outside of the rock. So There is almost no way to build a bigger edge without moving the rock (and moving the rock would be a big problem because it seems to have been custom fit together with another large rock on the other side of the stream!

One concern I have is that the yard generally slopes toward the low lip. And I am wondering if the pump housing has risen a bit over the past few years. The water level, when it is high enough to enter the pump housing, seems to be nearly overflowing about 4 feet of lip, with the lowest by the rock. Could it be possible that the housing is higher than it should be (perhaps it has risen over the past few years?) and the correct solution would be to dig out all the rock and lower the pump housing? Or do you think I should focus on rebuilding that edge by maybe adding a big rock and using the waterfall sealing foam to make a larger (though unnatural) edge?

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!
Todd

 

[IPA]

It’s hard to say not seeing it in person but it seems like the heavy weight of the rock settled the ground lowering it and the liner was cut too short. Is is mostly a waterfall feature? How deep is the gravel at the bottom part? If you can’t move the rock I guess the most economical option is to lower the rest of the collection area, “tighten” it up a little to have sufficient liner and so the pickup for the pump is lower than the rock and liner in that corner that’s leaking.

 

[j.w]

@trackzles99

 

[trackzles99]

It’s hard to say not seeing it in person but it seems like the heavy weight of the rock settled the ground lowering it and the liner was cut too short. Is is mostly a waterfall feature? How deep is the gravel at the bottom part? If you can’t move the rock I guess the most economical option is to lower the rest of the collection area, “tighten” it up a little to have sufficient liner and so the pickup for the pump is lower than the rock and liner in that corner that’s leaking.

Thanks IPA. I guess that fits with my option 1. The steps would be to remove all the gravel in the basin and then reposition the pump housing lower. Is that right? That way I'd be able to keep the water level lower than the lowest part of the liner.

I posted a pic so you can see the whole thing. It's a small waterfall with about 12 feet of stream ending in a basin. The basin seems about 6 feet by 4 feet or so. So quite a bit of gravel/rocks in it!

Thanks for your help...

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group

I would do your option 1 that would, most likely fix your issue.