How to Seal Garden Pond Pipes

Overflow or inflow pipes are often needed for garden ponds.

Sometimes overflow or inflow pipes are needed for garden ponds, and these pipes should be sealed properly to ensure leakage doesn't occur. It's important to try and ensure pipes are sealed when they are first installed, but if you inherit a pond with pipes that you suspect are leaking, you can excavate the pipes and fix the problem yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• Pipe anti-seep collar
• Bentonite

Instructions

1. Fit your pond pipes with anti-seep collars. Attach the collars onto the pipe and space them out according to recommendations on the packaging. These collars keep water from flowing on the outside of the pipe, which could wash out or damage it.

2. Check pipes by removing any pond pipe plugs and allowing water to travel through the pipes. Make note of any leaks. Check the dirt in the pipe's trench for dampness to detect leaks.

3. Dig up buried pipes and apply a bentonite plug around any leaks. Pour the bentonite around the leaky section of pipe so that a plug is created that is three times the diameter of the pipe itself.

4. Fill dirt around the pipe and bentonite plug until the pipe's trench is completely covered, packing the dirt down as you go.

5. Fill the pond and remove any plugs leading to outlet pipes to check the flow and determine if there is any additional leaking through the pipes.

References

• Natural Waterscapes.com: Pond Leak Solutions
• Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences: Fixing a Leaking Pond

Resources

• YouTube: How to Build a Pond Water Garden