“Here’s The Milk Method to Find Your Pond’s Leak”
I’m assuming you’re here because you’ve found out that your pond’s leaking.
I hope you like the sound of this one. It’s the “milk method.”
How The Milk Method Works
The method works best for fast leaks. If the water level’s just a bit lower than usual, it may be too difficult to tell where the milk is going. If you’re lucky, you might be able to see the milk flowing into the hole if the leak is right near the edge, but it’s not going to be obvious.
Anyway, the first thing you want to do is remove the fish. I hope you’ve already got a holding tank or a spare tub that you can put them in, so you can add the water from the pond to it.
If the fish are large, and you only have a small holding tank, you might want to put them in a few buckets or tubs. They’ll be fine for a while this way as long as you put an airstone in each one.
I don’t have to tell you how to remove the fish, right? Right?
Okay, let’s move on. The next step is the easy part.
You just pour some milk (or other safe dye) into the pond, then watch to see where it goes.
The milk will form a cloud where the is no leak and flow towards the hole if there is one.
What If The Leak Is In The Liner?
If the liner has a hole, you’ll see the milk flowing from the pond into the ground like a cloud, and the water level will keep on dropping.
The good thing about leaks in the liner is they’re very easy to patch up. Just use a pond liner repair kit, which is essentially a patch of liner and some pond safe adhesive.
If the hole is right on an edge, you can use a patch on the back of the hole and apply the adhesive around the edges of the patch. If the hole is smack bang in the middle somewhere, you’ll have to patch it up from the inside of the pond.
What If The Leak Is In The Stream, Waterfall or Watercourse?
If the watercourse is the source of the leak, you can tell by the milk flowing away from the waterfall or stream, and towards the hole.
You can’t really patch up a leak in a watercourse. You’ll have to drain the water from it, then remove the liner and patch it up with a patch that you make from a pond liner repair kit.
What If The Leak Is In The Pond’s Edge?
If the leak is in the pond’s edge, you’ll see the milk flow through the hole and fall into the ground. It should be easy to see.
You can patch up the hole in the edge with the same patching method that I described for leaks in the liner. If your pond edge is made from something like concrete, then you’ll want to use a waterproof concrete repair kit instead.
What If The Water Level’s Too Low?
If you can’t see any milk when the water level is too low, you might want to have a look for any obvious holes in your liner.
If you can’t see any holes, then the leak might be from the stream or the watercourse. If that’s the case, then the only thing you can do is drain the water from it, remove the liner, and patch it up with a patch that you make from a pond liner repair kit.
