Sodium Bentonite Clay Pond Liner is one of the best pond lining methods currently available. Why? It is natural, safe for life, inexpensive and highly efficient. Decidedly, a great combination of factors. Is it the right pond liner for your pond?

Compaction is, without a doubt, one of the most inexpensive methods for attempting to keep water inside a pond. It is a common practice in farms and ranches to release livestock in the area where you want to build a pond, so with the animal traffic, the soil is compacted enough to hold water. The main issue is that this method will not work with all types of soil. The soil needs to have a specific percentage of clay, within a specific range.

Using dispersing agents is another way of preparing your pond to hold water for long periods. The disadvantage of chemical additives is that they have to be used very carefully. First, they are materials that are a bit difficult to handle (some may cause irritation while handling) and second, they can affect the PH of the pond. Therefore, they must be used quite carefully and only under the recommendation of a professional. Their use is only required when the soil of the pond area has a really high clay content (clay tends to clump), therefore there is a need to “disperse” the soil particles.

Waterproof liners, more commonly known as rubber liners, have one main disadvantage: they have a high risk of puncture or tear. There are several different materials like EPDM, butyl and PVC liners. The advantages and disadvantages of each can give us material for a whole new post, so we won’t be discussing those here. However, another point that doesn’t favor them is that many of those materials are purposely made to avoid degradation, which makes them very contaminant for the environment. Also, while they are a seemingly good choice for a small pond, in larger ponds they become more difficult to manage and a tear or puncture can become a real nightmare in some cases.

Sodium Bentonite Clay Pond Liner contains only 1 ingredient: Sodium Bentonite. Yes, that is correct, there is only one ingredient in the pond liner. This material is a natural clay, extracted from mines that are mostly located in the Wyoming area. Its capacity to absorb water and become a watertight seal has made it one of the best pond liners available in the market this decade. Lining a pond with bentonite clay not only is effective in retaining water inside the pond, but the effect can also last for decades without having to be renewed. And on top of that, it is safe to handle with bare hands and environmentally friendly.

In few words, sodium bentonite clay pond liner is ideal for coarse soils with low or null clay content.  Does it have downsides? Of course it does. Sodium Bentonite Clay Pond Liner is sensible to erosion, so it is definitely not recommended for ponds with very variable water levels, as erosion can degrade the pond liner away. Another case where using sodium bentonite clay pond liner won’t work is in ponds with high clay content, as what they need are dispersants and sodium bentonite is sort of a clumping agent.

To produce sodium bentonite clay pond liner, we start by mining the sodium bentonite clay. The material extracted is transported to a processing plant, where it is selected and separated from other minerals and milled into specific grain sizes. In the particular case of bentonite pond liner, it is usually milled to a 200 mesh specification, which is commonly known as powdered bentonite. The processed material is then shipped to a warehouse with low humidity conditions to preserve it in the best conditions to be shipped.

Lonestar Minerals has developed a mix of different mesh sizes (which we call mix-mesh) that performs better than the standard mesh sodium bentonite pond liner. This helps you use less bentonite per square foot to achieve the same results. With over 20 years of field experience in farms, ranches and suburban areas, we are ready to provide you with great quality bentonite and the expertise necessary to apply it and obtain the best results for your pond or lake.

Trust a leading USA company that has been providing Sodium Bentonite Clay Pond Liner to many farms, ranchs and suburban homes the best service and a highly efficient, great quality pond liner to help them achieve their dream of a full pond available for them.