On my family land in the Shenandoah Valley, it seems like we dig a pond every couple months. We have about 20 loaders, backhoes, dozers, etc. all for personal use. The only requirement we look for prior to digging, is a natural spring. I don't know what your area is like, but I assume there is a spring where you are planning to put your pond. I'm not sure why you would want to line the bottom, or cover the top. If you plan on just digging a hole and filling it from another source, evaporation will take it away almost as fast as you can fill it. If you cover it, it will become stagnate and not fit to drink. All of our ponds are full of fish and we use them for watering the garden and numerous other uses as well. We even have a water pump hooked to the PTO of one of our tractors, so we can wash cars, water animals etc.

I'm not sure if this helps, but my recommendation is to find a spring, dig a hole and let nature do the rest.

Good luck, George