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<br />55 <br /> <br /> <br />00181i) <br /> <br />Direct leakage through the dam is the result of inferior construc- <br /> <br />tion methods and usually special procedures are needed for correction. <br /> <br />Stock pond seepage losses commonly decrease with age as a re- <br /> <br />sult of deposition of fine sediment and trampling by livestock. Treat- <br /> <br />ment with salt or other dispersing agents in the early life of the pond <br /> <br />is often used to reduce seepage. The simple inexpensive salt treat- <br /> <br />ment is usually carried out by raking ro<;:k salt into the stock pond 'floor.. <br /> <br />. Dispersion .of the soil particles occurs as the pond is filled and is most <br /> <br />effective where the treated soils c.ontain a minimum of 2.0 percent clay. <br /> <br />Reservoirs with a bed rock floor are not amenable to treatment <br /> <br />by dispersion methods. Use of bentonite for this purpose has given <br /> <br />good results in the Parker Mountain area of Utah,' so'uj:h of Fish Lake, <br /> <br />and is cited as an example. This area is underlain by fractured and <br /> <br />pervious volanic rock overlain by a very thin soil m<l;ntle. The stock <br /> <br />. ponds are char'acteristical1y shallow with a maximum depth of about <br /> <br />5 feet. Filling occurs each spring from snowmelt, but prior to treat- <br /> <br />ment the water seeped' away in from I to 3 weeks. For treatment the <br /> <br />pond floor was covered with from 1/2. to I inch of impure bentonite <br /> <br />secured from a quarry about 50 miles distant. On wetting the clay <br /> <br />expanded to a lawyer about 3 inches thick. This practically eliminated <br /> <br />seepage in the pond and the water remained in storage until lost by <br /> <br />evaporation and other causes. <br />