If the pond is constantly losing water, there is a suspicion that the pond liner may be leaking. In this case, you should definitely take action. You can find out what you can do to get the pond liner tight again in our article.
What should you do if the pond liner is leaking?
If the pond liner is leaking, you should first rule out possible causes such as capillary blocks or evaporating water. Then you have to find the leak and repair it accordingly, possibly with liquid pond liner or under water.
Check for leaks
If the water level in the garden pond continually decreases, this does not necessarily mean there is a leak. Other causes may also come into question:
- a malfunctioning or incorrectly designed capillary barrier
- intense sunlight and therefore high evaporation on hot summer days
- intensive planting in the edge area with highly water-absorbing plants (reeds, sedges, cattails)
- older foil that has become porous
If the capillary barrier is not sufficiently effective, the surrounding soil will practically suck the pond empty. This problem is particularly noticeable in individual or continuous swampy areas around the garden pond.
Intensive planting with reeds or sedges can cause the plants to draw a lot of water from the pond, especially when they sprout. This can certainly be the reason for considerable water losses in the pond, especially in smaller ponds with intensive planting on the edges.
Older PVC films can become porous and therefore leak in many places at the same time. If this is the case, or you suspect it, you should definitely replace the pond liner.
Find a leak
Once you have identified the pond liner as the culprit and have ruled out all other causes, the first step is to find the leak. In some cases this can be quite complex.
In this article you will find out how best to proceed if you cannot immediately recognize damage. Just click on the link.
Repair pond liner
In most cases, a repair will make sense if there is only one or a few pieces of damage. You can read how you can repair different types of foil in this article. Repairing EPDM films is particularly easy - you can easily use liquid pond liner.
Under certain circumstances, pond liners can also be repaired under water.
Tip
The best way to protect the pond liner is to create a 5 cm thick layer of sand underneath the liner and lay a pond fleece on top. This effectively prevents damage to the film. Some types of film are significantly more resilient than others.
