The Pond

After the storm the other day our pond seemed to be devouring more water than usual. It was already consuming water on a regular basis which indicated a leak. We've been stalling the inevitable draining and cleaning to assess the problem.

Before

The task is enormous. Pull out all the pants, rehouse the fish, drain the water and clean out all the debris. Then allow time to dry and grind back the coating in the sections which are leaking and finally apply several coats of special sealant. This all takes a number of elapsed weeks.

The ideal time to do all this is July/August when the rain is minimal allowing plenty of drying and curing time.

But today it was becoming annoying having the pump kicking in and out so often and so we made a start.

The water supply to the pond's ball valve which allows automatic refilling was turned off. On with the waders and into the pond to commence the task. The initial job is to reduce the amount of foliage growing in the pond. Two plants in particular are doing very well.

The Mint planted in the edge garden has found the water and is loving it forming a matted mass on the northern edge. This all came out.

Then there was the Blue Pickerel Rush which decided the container in which it was planted wasn't large enough. From a very plant we had a massive root structure occupying about half the pond area. Slowly with a pruning saw all but a small piece still located in the original container was removed.

After

Without draining the entire pond it's not possible to find the leak but by feeling around under the water we tried to locate any major cracks - without success. Then Jean commented that the Lavender plant on the eastern side always looks pretty good so we trimmed back the overhang and look under the rock lined edging to find  a small crack.

Then we spotted a substantial crack on the northern side and its corresponding one on the southern side. It seems the pond has sunk on one side.

The main crack after cleaning away the debris

We intend leaving the water supply off for a few days to see how low the water level falls. If the cracks are not extensive we may be able to perform some patching without a full draining. That would be nice.

Removing a large amount of foliage in the pond has really made it look better. As the growth has slowly over taken the water it has reduced the volume of water visible and made the feature look much smaller. Now it looks like a pond again.