restoring a bentonite clay liner

A bentonite clay liner was installed on site twenty years ago, but it was never filled. (It was going to be filled from a well.) There is a healthy growth of grass and weeds over it. How should I go about restoring this liner/ and or getting it functional?

Gilbert F. : Can you find out a little more about the history ! It is actually unlikely that anything other than a free flowing artesian well could be counted on to
fill a small pond w/out a major strain on the pump itself !

If the pond lining Ever Worked according to plan it should have had periods with standing water within it ! In other Threads you have posted you have made
reference to(Near?) neighbors. So-this probably eliminates the idea of using a herd of pigs to re-seal the pond bottom via the time-tested technique of making
a sealing layer out of their Gley !

Short of that technique, the only other techniques I am aware of require a late excavator, or a very carefully installed plastic pool liner that would require
removal of the existing plant life that has probably additionally grown through the bentonite layer in places ! special handling equipment will probably be needed

Hopefully, you will now get a few other responses and we will both learn more about crafting a pond bottom ! For the good of the Crafts ! Big AL

I am not too sure about the history. The pond is fairly small. According to the owner, it was dug with heavy equipment, which, in our Colorado clay, should have had quite a sealing effect in itself. Then 5000 pounds of bentonite was spread by hand. At that point work stopped. The ground water table is within twenty feet of the surface, and we are near a creek. Given that, and the sticky nature of the soil, I am surprised that there is no water in it, even without the bentonite. We have had a very wet summer.

There is a sort of vegetable oil based product on the market which can seal a leaking pond. Would this work? Would the first step be pulling out all the growth?

And yes, pigs are out. We could possibly spread grass clippings and then a layer of soil, which might have the same effect.

Any ideas as to our future course of action and/ or the mysterious lack of puddles would be appreciated! What should I ask the owner that could help clear things up?

One more piece of information: a first layer of bentonite was tilled in, and then a second layer spread on top.

A little bit more of an update: I went out in a pouring rain today, and there was no water in the pond at all. The nearby creek was in flood, even. And there is a really thick growth of weeds in the pond, including some bushes, so the clay liner must be shot. I will start digging out the vegetation, since I can hardly make things worse then they are.