I am trying to fix a leak in a levee that I think is caused by a tree root, I am draining the pond and if it dries up enough I am going to clean the levee on the inside and push fresh dirt up against it. The levee is about 12 foot tall do yall think this will solve the problem or should I try another way of fixing it? Bandit44
Repairing pond leaks. Hi, Bandit44. You're getting to be a real regular here, aren't you? Good stuff. I have repaired leaks in a number of dams and ponds by digging out a core trench along the length of the wall in the area of the leak, back-filling it in layers and compacting each layer on the way up. However, this method does have limitations on the depth to which you can excavate your core trench with safety. I tend to be a bit cautious about excavating anything deeper than about seat depth of the machine that I am using, unless I have the width in the wall to be able to bench my cut. If your leak is, as you suspect, caused by a tree root, you may be a bit deeper than that to find and fix it this way although, if your wall is wide enough, you may be able to bench your core trench to achieve the depth in reasonable safety. The real beauty of being able to use this core trench method is that, once the dam/pond has emptied itself down to leak level, you can excavate the trench and repair the leak without having to pump any more water out of the storage. I am always mindful of an incident that happened on your side of the Pacific puddle about five years ago in which an experienced dozer operator was using this core trench method , excavating the trench with a Case 855 dozer. He didn't come home that night and his family could see no sign of him or the the machine at the job site when they went to investigate, although his vehicle was there. The trench was full of water. Pumps were brought in and the water pumped out of the dam and the trench. This revealed what had happened. The upstream wall of the trench had collpased under the weight of the water and buried man and machine under tons of dirt and water. He had been down about 17 feet with around 12feet of water in the dam above him and the bottom of his trench. Not good. And that is part of why I don't go very deep with my core trenches, unless I can bench them. Even then, I won't go much below existing water level in the storage. If you can't get at your leak with the above method and assuming that you can get down into the pond to work, I think I'd be looking at excavating the suspect area of the wall on the inside to a depth of 2 - 3 feet. This may well give you more - or less - evidence that you are right about the leak location, which is always nice either way. Assuming that you find the leak, backfill the excavated area and compact it before plastering more clay up the inside of the wall as insurance. Happy leak fixing.
Thanks Deas Plant for the information, a lot of it is over my head but I think I got enough of it to help me out a lot. I am new to this dozer talk but I will catch on. Thanks: Bandit44
On asking questions Hi, Bandit44. Feel free to ask about anything you don't understand. As der saying goes, 'the only stupid question is the one you don't ask'.
Just up my alley. What we do it take the excavator and dig a trench about 60' wide and whatever depth is needed for the situation. Dig the ditch right down the center of the dam. once all the bad dirt is removed, find some good compactable dirt to fill the trench back in. I would recommed a REMOTE CONTROL compactor to be used to pack the trench. That way no one has to go in the trench. Just pack the dirt in layer of about 12". that should fix it.
If that can't be done what about pumping out the pond and using some Bentonite?
''leak'' down in the south ,louisiana we use a different method.we excavate using a narrow bucket,12'' to 18'' as deep as the leak plus a foot or so,then pump the cut with a sealing concrete called flowfill.it drys very fast and always seals the leaks.its fairly cheap considering the cost of compactor,man in trench,and what if it dont seal?just a lil southern trick we learned.
Hey Bandit 44 where in Ms you from. Just finished reworking a 6 acre lake where the damn was full of trees and was leaking. We drained it, removed all trees and stumps off damn. Cut away about 2 ft of front and rear slope slope, cut height down 4 feet used all this material to create a 3 to 1 slope front and 4 to 1 rear , then brought damn elev. to correct height with new material and finished slopes with new material. also removed about 8000 cy of silty material from bottom of lake and cleaned all banks of trees and stumps for a distance of 15ft from normal water level. Now how many times did we pull the scraper out with the dozer when it would hit a soft spot in bottom is another story. Good luck nothing to it just use common sense. Going to start another one Monday with same problem just it is only about a acre maybe in size.
The Flow Of Information. Hi, Bandit44. Gittin' enuff info. yet? LOL. Be careful what you ask for around this site. LOL.
Yes sir I am taking it all in, if it is like everthing else I will forget it by the next day. I am in north MS. It's funny when you pass 50 you can remember all the usless information that you have heard but you can't remember the stuff that will be usefull, also you can't remember where you left your car keys or your reading glasses. I spend about 3 hours a day looking for these items. Back to the levee I think I will try cleaning it off on the inside and building it back up with some good dirt. Will running the dozer in the mud wear the tracks out quicker or does it really harm them? Bandit44
Almost forgot to mention that the other day while clearing off some land that has not been used for a long time that I uncovered a bottle of Dr. Pepper that I think was bottled in 1971. I was walking around looking and found it in a pile that I had pushed up. It has never been opened and it still has fizz to it if you shake the bottle. What's some of the oddest things that some of yall have dug up? Bandit44
Hand Grenades! :usa
Just to name a few guns, graves, and all types of crap that farmers bury in the ground
Ever dug up any other strange military items? Its kinda neat seeing all the old military stuff left behind in places like Dutch Harbor and Adak. Adak feels like a ghost town, have you done much/any work there?
I bet they've spent several billion dollars digging up stuff the military buried in this state. I haven't dug a lot of stuff up, but I have had our barge at sites picking barrels off the bottom of the ocean. Asphalt seems to be the majority. Some stuff they won't tell you what it is. My guess would be barrels of rifles or ordinance of some sort. The last time I was in Adak was in 94. We put new breasting dolphins and a new fender system on the fuel pier in Sweeper Cove. They had drawn it down some but it was still a happening place. I've heard the elements are starting to take their toll on things. What a waste!
Yeah, i heard stories about what the military buried in Adak. I was there in 02, the big military complex portion is dead, looks like everyone just up and left everything behind. one general store, the mcdonalds is a pretty good restaurant, not much more than that. Bunch of empty furnished Duplex houses, rent is dirt cheap :drinkup
Presidio of San Francisco You should see how much they are spending digging up the old Army dumps in the Presidio of San Francisco, right next to the Golden Gate Bridge. The army dumped old batteries and stuff there and now they have to truck out all the dirt to the Central Valley hazmat dumps. Huge job running 24/7. And the foreman Jim told me that he was fined because he let the pile of dirt get higher than the church steeple of the chapel on the old miliatary base, a major NO No, according to the leaf lickers. The leaf lickers and tree huggers already got their hand in this too. And then they claim the areas they are digging around are historic, so they require an archaeologist on the job inspecting every scoop of dirt that comes out of the ground. Why not do what they do in the Jersey Meadowlands which is to just pave over any toxic materials in the ground? What a waste of money in the Presidio, but it's creating a lot of jobs for operators and truck drivers, so maybe it's not so bad after all.
Having a man-made pond on the property is great for improving the aesthetics of the yard and giving you a beautiful place where you can sit and relax while enjoying the water. Most of the time, a pond can last for years without need for too much maintenance or repair. However, there may be occasions where you notice that you have a leak. Don’t worry; it isn’t the end of the world, and most of the time, you can repair the pond liner leak without too much trouble. More details: https://www.pondpro2000.com/blogs/finding-fixing-pond-liner-leak/