Pondless waterfall basin appears to be leaking

[jwestbury]

I bought a house last year with an existing pondless waterfall. Over the winter, it developed a significant leak, but the ground was too wet (we're in the Pacific Northwest) to troubleshoot properly, so I unplugged the pump for the winter. In the meantime, our new dog absolutely wrecked the liner, which I guess was a benefit in disguise -- I tore the liner out a couple months ago, and just reinstalled it over the weekend. So, I know the liner is good -- or, at least, that if it has any holes, they're pinholes too small to see.

At any rate, to see if the leak was now fixed, I ran the waterfall for several hours last night, and we lost several gallons of water. Not good. So, I filled it to a known point and left the waterfall turned off overnight. As of this morning, it appears to be several gallons short again. Furthermore, if I leave it turned off and sit and watch the basin, I see bubbles coming up periodically.

So, pretty sure the basin is leaking.

Now, I don't know what equipment was used to install this water feature. Looking down into the basin, it looks like it might be a Eco-Blox matrix turned on its side (which I know from reading the product manual is not recommended) with some sort of weir attached to the top as a catchment mechanism.

What I'm wondering is how I might find and fix the leak in the basin. Or, is my only real option going to be excavation and replacement of the basin?

 

[j.w]

@jwestbury
Can't help ya on this one sorry. Hopefully someone w/knowledge on those waterfalls will be of help soon.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

Can you post a few pictures for us — overall pics.

 

[jwestbury]

Sure, pictures attached! Whole waterfall, catchment at the bottom, basin, and the weir at the top. The wet areas around the edge are from some overflow issues yesterday while I was figuring out rock placement and shoring up edges where I had more flow than expected.

 

[jwestbury]

Oh, some additional detail: The pump is attached to the end of the submerged PVC pipe. When I see bubbles coming up, it's near the front of the basin. I filled the basin last night while it was running, and the water was up to the ring at the bottom of the weir. It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but the water level is now down several inches (down the length of one full diamond on the basin wall), after having left the pump turned off overnight.

 

[jwestbury]

After running for the last hour, we're several inches farther down than we were earlier.

 

[mrsclem]

Is the water level dropping below the level of the pvc? It could be the pipe has come loose which would be an easy fix. If it drops below that, the basin is probably leaking. Drain it completely and see if you can find a hole or crack

 

[jwestbury]

Hmmm... it drops below the PVC while running, but not sure if it'll drop below the PVC while turned off. Guess I'll have to leave it off for a bit and see.