I have installed a new wildlife pond, about 4m x 6m. I have banked soil
right the way into the pond as per most instructions for wildlife friendly
ponds and it all looks good.

However the way is now draining out of the pond due to capillary action (or
wicking, as it is sometimes called). Although I have a lovely area of wet
soil all around my pond, I was hoping to keep some water inside the pond!

Any idea on how to cut down this effect?

Can I do something different with the liner to help prevent this? At the
moment I have this:

*****************soil
water * * ------pond liner
***** /
pond liner------- earth

Any ideas?

Normally around a rec pond there's clay under the dirt to make a water tight
seal and to stop water movement into the surrounding area. You might want to
pull the liner through the dirt at the top and put rocks on the top of the
liner to conceal. This would seperate the pond dirt from the earthen dirt.

"redtag" wrote in message
news:1062577411.671448@sj-nntpcache-5...
I have installed a new wildlife pond, about 4m x 6m. I have banked soil
right the way into the pond as per most instructions for wildlife friendly
ponds and it all looks good.

However the way is now draining out of the pond due to capillary action
(or
wicking, as it is sometimes called). Although I have a lovely area of wet
soil all around my pond, I was hoping to keep some water inside the pond!

Any idea on how to cut down this effect?

Can I do something different with the liner to help prevent this? At the
moment I have this:

*****************soil
water * * ------pond liner
***** /
pond liner------- earth

Any ideas?

Bentonite? I don't quite get how the banked soil works and how your pond is
lined such that a berm (if I understand correctly what you are saying) would
pull the water out of the pond. How much are you losing/day?
http://www.pondseal.com/
"redtag" wrote in message
news:1062577411.671448@sj-nntpcache-5...
I have installed a new wildlife pond, about 4m x 6m. I have banked soil
right the way into the pond as per most instructions for wildlife friendly
ponds and it all looks good.

However the way is now draining out of the pond due to capillary action
(or
wicking, as it is sometimes called). Although I have a lovely area of wet
soil all around my pond, I was hoping to keep some water inside the pond!

Any idea on how to cut down this effect?

Can I do something different with the liner to help prevent this? At the
moment I have this:

*****************soil
water * * ------pond liner
***** /
pond liner------- earth

Any ideas?

"redtag" wrote in message
news:1062577411.671448@sj-nntpcache-5...
I have installed a new wildlife pond, about 4m x 6m. I have banked soil
right the way into the pond as per most instructions for wildlife friendly
ponds and it all looks good.

However the way is now draining out of the pond due to capillary action
(or
wicking, as it is sometimes called). Although I have a lovely area of wet
soil all around my pond, I was hoping to keep some water inside the pond!

Any idea on how to cut down this effect?

Can I do something different with the liner to help prevent this? At the
moment I have this:

*****************soil
water * * ------pond liner
***** /
pond liner------- earth

Any ideas?

I have the same design. On one rim of my pond it was worked nicely, and on
the other, I need to do some work. I placed very small (about the size of
your hand) pieces of slate on the liner, and then back filed on top of that.
I then tossed sod down on top of that. The sod has now taken root, and is
over growing into the pond. The rock is hidden, and keeps the water from
wicking as fast. I still have some loss, but nothing I am worried about.

BV.

Thanks for the replies.

I will try some experiments at the weekend.

To answer your question D Kat, if you imagine a "normal" pond built with a
buytl line and then throw a lot of soil (earth) in afterwards so that all of
the edges have gentle slopes to the solid surround area, then you have my
pond. The water is being sucked up through this by capillary action and I
need to break that action somehow. I will experiment at the weekend and
report back later!

(I am losing an inch or two a day!)


"D Kat" wrote in message
...
Bentonite? I don't quite get how the banked soil works and how your pond
is
lined such that a berm (if I understand correctly what you are saying)
would
pull the water out of the pond. How much are you losing/day?
http://www.pondseal.com/
"redtag" wrote in message
news:1062577411.671448@sj-nntpcache-5...
I have installed a new wildlife pond, about 4m x 6m. I have banked soil
right the way into the pond as per most instructions for wildlife
friendly
ponds and it all looks good.

However the way is now draining out of the pond due to capillary action
(or
wicking, as it is sometimes called). Although I have a lovely area of
wet
soil all around my pond, I was hoping to keep some water inside the
pond!

Any idea on how to cut down this effect?

Can I do something different with the liner to help prevent this? At the
moment I have this:

*****************soil
water * * ------pond liner
***** /
pond liner------- earth

Any ideas?