Pond Leaking vs Evaporating (How to Spot the Difference)
When your pond is losing water, you’re either dealing with a leak, or you’re dealing with evaporation. It’s important to be able to tell the difference, because they’re two very different problems that require two very different solutions.
Let’s start with the easy one. Evaporation.
Evaporation
Evaporation is when the water in your pond just straight up disappears, but without any noticeable wetness around the outside of your pond. It’s like the water was never there in the first place.
This can be a bit of an “Oh, I see” moment, because it’s so simple. However, this is actually what happens most of the time when people think their pond is leaking.
The way to tell whether your pond is losing water to evaporation is simple. If the water level is consistently going down all the time, but it’s never going down faster than a couple of inches a week, then it’s probably just evaporation.
Ponds lose between 1 and 3 inches to evaporation every week, so you can use that as a rough gauge to see whether you’re losing more water than usual.
Evaporation is nothing to worry about. There are no problems with your pond if it’s just evaporation. You don’t even have to top the water up, if you don’t want to.
However, if you’re topping the water up with tap water, then it’s a good idea to use some de-chlorinator, because the chlorine in tap water can harm your fish.
Leaks
Leaks are the real problem.
If you can see that the water in your pond is going down, but the actual water level is going down faster than a couple of inches a week, then it’s definitely a leak.
If you’re having to top your pond up with water every few days or so, then you’ve definitely got a leak on your hands.
Whereas evaporation is more of a “drying up” of the water, a leak is more of an “escaping” of the water.
To be more specific, a leak is when the water is escaping from your pond, and going somewhere else that’s not your pond. This is why the water level is going down.
Evaporation is caused by the sun evaporating the water, turning it into water vapor. This is why the water level is going down.
You see, the difference is that a leak will cause the water level to go down much faster than evaporation. If your pond is losing a few inches a day, then it’s definitely a leak.
Evaporation is also very noticeable when the weather is particularly hot and dry. You can see your pond drying out right in front of your eyes. This is normal, though, so don’t worry.
Leaks are not normal, however, so you’re going to have to find it and fix it.
