How to make a pond with bentonite clay granules

Bolton Conservation Volunteers and Friends of Bridge St LNR in Horwich re-engineer two ponds which do not hold water using Bentonite clay granules. Over two work days, the volunteers take a foot of soil out of the ponds and store it at the sides, then apply the bentonite clay, before sandwiching it beneath the previously dug-out soil. The process is explained by Rick Parker and accompanied by music from The Thing in my Soup.

[@kimsousa6420]

What a fabulous group of people, creating such a gift for the wildlife.

[@ralotralot]

This is really helpful - thank you for showing the process.

[@jennifermansfield9327]

Thank you - wish you folks could come to my house in the states ... working on a very small "pond" to try out the technique. Would love to see your spill way construction for when the ponds get too full...

[@petermortensen4565]

You should have way many likes than this! Thanks for the inspiration. Building a 50’x175’ pond this summer/fall and getting some pallets of bentonite clay bags delivered just like you used. Building a stage on the dam and having folks come out to stomp it in.

[@MIKEZGAMER-g8b]

Brilliant

[@KnobbyHobby4130]

Thanks for sharing, I must keep the 30% slope in mind if/when I make a little pond in my garden, keep up the wonderful work! Watching with interest from Brisbane Australia.

[@cbriangilbert1978]

Only if you are doing it with this type of material. If you do it with concrete, liner, fiber glass, etc you can do it any shape and slope that you want. The 30% in this instance was only because that is the requirements of that form of bentonite clay.

[@johnnytenjobs]

Bless the volunteers

[@rkl3692]

Thank you 🙏

[@danielharty4456]

Can you advise where you sourced the sodium bentonite from please? And the approximate coverage needed? thanks

[@Purbaeli]

It would be great if theirs end result of the pond video.

[@teddyapproved]

1:31 can’t hear what the guy is saying at all. The rain noise is too loud and he’s too quiet.

[@artificialintelligence2653]

You should also plant more trees and add many aquatic plants in the pond.

[@zeljkobanovic4398]

Question ??? Can you sandwich the bentonite with rocks and gravel instead of the dirt ? I am aming for a recreational swimming pool done with bentonite, but with lots of filtration and clear water... I dont like the idea of an organic pool, done with PVC liner.

[@anthonycecil8299]

don't put any rocks

[@lisaaudet2339]

Did you put two separate layers of the bentonite?

[@a.cotton3963]

Great video. Did the ponds fill up?

[@boltonconservationvoluntee9050]

According to Clayton, yes and holding water. Plus, Rick will most likely have sneaked in a score of native pond weeds by now. From a few little cuttings he gave me in a bag, eight months after creation, my own pond fooled a visitor into thinking it had been there for at least ten years.

[@a.cotton3963]

@@boltonconservationvoluntee9050 Glad to hear your efforts payed off. I bet it looks amazing and natural. I watched to learn about the application of Bentonite but enjoyed the whole video. Keen to know what weeds you added now. Thanks for the update.

[@clockworkolive8533]

so whats better ? mix it with the soil of this technique using bentonite as a blanket??

[@joeminervini9051]

Men working laboriously in heavy mud ? Were is the tractor ?

[@kentaylor9290]

Great way to start a video- so much background noise you can't hear a word said. :-(

[@kirubhakar1389]

IT SEEMS TO BE FINE - BUT HAVING LITTLE DOUBTS., 1. WHAT IF THE WATER HAD DRIED DURING SUMMER AND CLAY CREAKS DUE TO EXPOSURE TO SUN WHICH LEADS TO BENTONITE LOSES ITS WATER CONTENT DUE TO EVAPORATION WHICH IN NEXT SEASON AFTER WATER GOT FILLED UP WEATHER THE BENTONITE STILL HOLD THE WATER LEAKAGE? 2. BENTONITE IS SAFE FOR POND ECOSYSTEM?

[@epicdabber1008]

i read bentonite is a natural clay

[@anonymouswhite7957]

I know this is from 10 months ago, but if the bentonite layer is thick enough, drying/cracking won’t change it’s water impermeability makeup. It’ll also expand several times its size again when it came into contact with water Bentonite is safe for pond ecosystem (unless the ecosystem is highly alkaline), they are mostly made out of cretaceous era volcanic ash submerged in the ocean (the ocean then dried up and it become sodium bentonite). If i remember correctly it can be found under the oasis in deserts, and it helps the oasis store water by forming giant clay membrane. So yes it is safe

[@WeezieV]

So granulated. I've only seen fine powder. Looks like you raided a crematorium. 😏

[@WeezieV]

Scary music

[@jbweld6193]

Thats quite a bit of digging. No thoughts of an excavator?

[@boltonconservationvoluntee9050]

Yes, this could have been dug out by an excavator - with an excavator, if you had land available for ponds, you could dig several out in a day. But if you're adding bentonite clay to seal the pond, then the clay has to be applied in a continuous layer and carefully sandwiched in place - see the second half of the video - or the bentonite will blob up like a lava lamp and will not make a proper seal. And your expenditure on the clay will have been wasted. In order to prevent it, you really need to put in the man hours. In this case, approximately forty volunteers took part across the two weekends. That's forty people who have ownership of the work, who want the thing to do well and who can look out for it in the future. This includes the local "friends of" group, for whom the nature reserve is a resource right on their doorstep.

[@jbweld6193]

@@boltonconservationvoluntee9050 Im not undervaluing the ownership part.. I just think in terms of efficiencies that would have been a couple man hours of work vice 40x8x2 (500+) man hours of work. I agree the bentonite is best spread by hand and using a compactor. I was referring to the initial excavation.

[@boltonconservationvoluntee9050]

@@jbweld6193 Then yes, you're right in terms of the initial dig. In this instance, there was a depression where there was a failed pond already (i.e. it did not hold water) and our first weekend's dig was to remove an extra foot of topsoil, which we stored around the edges until the bentonite was put in place. Digging a pond from scratch would, certainly, be easier with a machine. But Rick then got us to replace the topsoil by hand, so that the new clay layer itself was not disturbed. Bolton Conservation Volunteers is a long-established group which meets bi-weekly, (see www.boltonconservation.co.uk ) which does regularly get twenty-plus volunteers, so we're able to do some pretty hefty tasks in short order. This was a case where many hands made light work...

[@davidgustafson2377]

Can’t hear it. Why did you do the video while it was raining?

[@user-id8cl5zd9e]

He should atleast get closer or use a mic

[@azerosblank5036]

He probably didn't choose to do the video while it was raining. It started raining while the work started. Can't change your plans for that petty amount of rain.

[@joeminervini9051]

@@azerosblank5036 But he could've gotten closer to the mic. Duh .

[@hafizurrahman4311]

What's the cost per sft? Applied two thick layers of bentonite!