HELP!! Water UNDER my pond!!!

[ttrigg]

Capt Bob

Since I was working on the waterfall, whic means standing in one end of the pond, I had the water level down to about a half full level. So the water under the pond was deeper and heaverier than what was in the pond, causing the damage.

Since my neighbor dug a "drainage ditch" we have seen "flowing" water down the hillside from the pond, so we know it was water not a gas bubble. (in fact water is still dripping out the pipe)

Greg

The liner and most of the construction has been in for over a year. My wife's cancer treatments put a stop to all construction. Just as we were starting back at it is when the neighbors pipe broke. He has done quite a bit of help, dug a trench, bought the pipe and gravel, etc. Appreciate your offer of help, but wouldd rather have my wife help. She is up to full strenght and is very adamant as to what we are going to do.

Thanks again

[Greg Elmassian]

I changed my login to Greg Elmassian from gregeusa.... I deleted my old login, so the above post is error...error.

Greg

[Anonymous]

Boy, hate to put a damper on this, but I would make sure the ground water subsides before putting the liner in. From your post it sounds like the problem is not getting better. There could be an additional problem in the nearby line that is not fixed.

If the problem is from your neighbor, he should be responsible to make it right.

I know a bit about drainage, live in a tract where some people have had to sell their houses because of expansive soil cracking foundations.

I live close by, if I can be of help one weekend, even if it's just to survey the site, let me know.

Regards, Greg

[Capt Bob Johnson]

If you had water in the pond to start with, I'd suspect some other culprit, like gas leak or something. Water under pond shouldn't cause bulge in bottom of a pond that has water in it. Too much weight for displacement, unless busted pipe directly under bulge.

You could get a patch kit on hand, poke hole in liner at middle of bulge and see what squirts up. Once pressure is equalized, slap patch in place and fill her up!

[ttrigg]

Since I racked up my shoulder digging out a ditch and installing a drainage pipe, I've not been able to do very much. The cast comes off next week. My wife decided to help with the reconstruction of the rock bottom. She mixed the mortar and handed me the stones. Working with only my left hand we were able to repair the damaged wall yesterday. Today I saw that the liner on the bottom was bulging up due to water accumulation under it. Since we were not ready to put water into the pond we filled it with stones, in all but the area where we are working. Maybe the weight of the stones will keep the water back at least until we are ready to put water in the pond. We must dig out the leaf separator to lift it about six inches, as I had it too low in the ground. Probably get son-in-law-to-be to do the digging for me, if I can coax him off the computer.

[Capt Bob Johnson]

I think you're making the best of the situation. Put what drainage you can under there and wait to see what happens after repairs are completed. Probably take a week or two after repairs for you to know for sure just what it will take to set it right!

If it starts bubbling oil or gas, I want my 10% cut!

[ttrigg]

Thanks All

Some good ideas there. I think I will wait to see what is happening with the water. My neighbor went down the hill and dug a trench about 8 ft deep along the property line. water "seems" to be "flowing" out. Cannot really measure the speed that the water is moving but the wet spot on the hillside is growing by about a foot every 2 hours.

I did manage to get a small line of plastic tubing under the liner in the area of the "river" and then I "over filled" the pond, to add more pressure to pu***he water out.

[mtm1site]

ttrigg , I don't know if this will work on a pond but when swimming pools are installed they usually put in a small PVC pipe down under the deep end of the pool to relieve water pressure if the water table is too high in the area.This would not drain off the underground water completely but it may save some of your mortered in rocks until the water is absorbed into the ground.I think all you would need is a piece of small pvc with a cap on it to place in the drainage rocks when you repair the pond. Just a thought. TOM

[kstrong]

Been there...

You may find that over the next few days as the water soaks back into the ground, that your pond liner will set back in place. That's the ideal solution. You'll have to reset your rocks, etc., but at least you'll avoid having to pull everything out and rebuild. Otherwise, see if you can slip a hose under the liner and pump the water out from underneath. (Use a shop vac or any other kind of pump.)

Fortunately, the water got there by unnatural means, so odds are that it will soak back in and not give you any more trouble. I had the misfortune of stupidly digging a pond in my back yard which was prone to high groundwater activity. In August--the dry season--everything was fine. Come February, the liner was floating on top of the groundwater. We drained the water from underneath, sunk some rocks in the pond to help hold the liner, and hoped for the best. (We moved in March, so I have no idea how successful the fix was.)

So, I'd just keep my eyes on the ground, and see if it dries out. Hopefully you won't have to rebuild everything.

Later,

K

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Yeah, I've kinda wondered of the homeowner's would cover GRR stuff! Any ins. experts out there that would care to comment???? Hey, maybe a few of us put up a couple of thou and start a GRR ins Co, could support our rr habits!

[CandCRR]

Just a thought - Will his home owners insurance cover your damages? Especially if you need to replace any pond parts and rail and ballist. It may be worth your while to document/phograph your damages.

I was also wondering if anyone lists their rail way in their home owners insurance?

Jaime

[cacole]

If your neighbor has repaired the broken water main, why not just wait until the excess water soaks into the ground? Your pond should settle back into place when it does unless a lot of silt has settled under it.

[ttrigg]

My next door neighbor had a water line rupture sometime last night. The line runs along our fence line. My GRR runs 12 inches from the fence. My pond is only another foot away, (2 feet from the fence.) The ground is so saturated with water that it has pushed up the liner for my pond. All of the mortered rocks had been busted out.

Does anyone have any ideas that I can do to drain the underground water off?????

This weekend I'm going to have to pull up my tracks and dig a very narrow trench and put in some form of drain pipe.

Any suggestions out there??????????