Large pond silt removal

[scesnick]

I have a large pond that we swim in every summer. It is spring fed and i can even use the creek that originates behind my property to raise the depth and use the drains in it to lower in the fall. It is crystal clear water. It is a very nice place for our kids to swim and we grill down on the bank of it atleast 3 times a week in the summer.

Over the past 50 yrs or so alot of sediment has made it's way into to bottom which is not pleasant. It is nothing more than decomposing leaves however.
I have been searching for a way to dredge the pond without breaking the bank or draining the pond. I was wondering if using a trash pump to pump the silt out of the pond would work. Sort of like vacuuming the bottom of the pond. I am not worried about water loss since I can refill easily. Any ideas?

 

[SPIKER]

I was wondering if using a trash pump to pump the silt out of the pond would work. Sort of like vacuuming the bottom of the pond. I am not worried about water loss since I can refill easily. Any ideas?

That has been done prior by some people I know and worked somewhat well, though it would often clog up with sticks... Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs did this same thing and they used some sort of slew to remove biggest part of the sticks & twigs ect..

Mark

 

[lhfarm]

I would visit Pond Management - Fisheries Management - Pond Boss Magazine for answers to your question. I'd also do a search on pond aeration as a method (slow) for removing sediment build up.

Sounds like a great pond. Wish I had a spring and/or creek. One of my retirement projects is to make our two small stock ponds swimming hole clear again.

 

[20 20]

I have a large pond that we swim in every summer. It is spring fed and i can even use the creek that originates behind my property to raise the depth and use the drains in it to lower in the fall. It is crystal clear water. It is a very nice place for our kids to swim and we grill down on the bank of it atleast 3 times a week in the summer.

Over the past 50 yrs or so alot of sediment has made it's way into to bottom which is not pleasant. It is nothing more than decomposing leaves however.
I have been searching for a way to dredge the pond without breaking the bank or draining the pond. I was wondering if using a trash pump to pump the silt out of the pond would work. Sort of like vacuuming the bottom of the pond. I am not worried about water loss since I can refill easily. Any ideas?

If it is easy to refill then {if it were me} I'd do the best job possible. This means drain and dredge with equipment. A dozer and excavator can make short work of it. the biggest issue would be the length of time for it to dry up enough to get the machinery in. Do you have any picutres? What size is it? What's the depth? The next biggest issue would be placement of the muck that's dug out.

 

[schmism]

Sort of like vacuuming the bottom of the pond. I am not worried about water loss since I can refill easily. Any ideas?

I always wonder about people who come up with sceems that seem to cost about a lifetime of ones labor but never figure out that that costs something....

would it work... i suppose. Would it take years to accomplish what you could pay an excavator to do in a few days... probably.

 

[scesnick]

If it is easy to refill then {if it were me} I'd do the best job possible. This means drain and dredge with equipment. A dozer and excavator can make short work of it. the biggest issue would be the length of time for it to dry up enough to get the machinery in. Do you have any picutres? What size is it? What's the depth? The next biggest issue would be placement of the muck that's dug out.

Well, I thought of draining it but it has a few spring water sources ( one being under water ) so even if I totally drained it I don't think it would ever get dry enough to use equipment in it. Here is a google pic of my place.. Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland - Google Maps

I always wonder about people who come up with sceems that seem to cost about a lifetime of ones labor but never figure out that that costs something....

would it work... i suppose. Would it take years to accomplish what you could pay an excavator to do in a few days... probably.

Why would it take years to accomplish? What you call a "Sceem" most people call problem solving. After making the original post I did more research and found this.. Piranha Mini Dredges: small & compact dredges for sand, mud, & muck
Looks to be exactly what I was thinking, And hey, good news Schism, it doesn't seem like it would take years either...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

They used this concept to build road fills in the Memphis area 40 years ago by pumping the fill out of the MS River through huge pipes. There should be contractors with the pictured equipment. Thanks for the link because it is interesting.

 

[Mace Canute]

Speaking of hairbrained schemes, schmism, here's another one! Back in the old days in England one way they would plow the fields was to winch the plow back and forth between two tractors. This was a "System" and everything was designed specifically for this method. How about (here comes the hairbrained part) if the OP set up a similar deal and winched a "bucket" (maybe something similar to a box blade?) across the pond to scrap out the muck on the bottom, then winch it back across again for another run? If the pond wasn't too wide and you had room to maneuver, you could just use cables and pull the bucket back and forth with the drawbars on two tractors.

 

[scesnick]

Speaking of hairbrained schemes, schmism, here's another one! Back in the old days in England one way they would plow the fields was to winch the plow back and forth between two tractors. This was a "System" and everything was designed specifically for this method. How about (here comes the hairbrained part) if the OP set up a similar deal and winched a "bucket" (maybe something similar to a box blade?) across the pond to scrap out the muck on the bottom, then winch it back across again for another run? If the pond wasn't too wide and you had room to maneuver, you could just use cables and pull the bucket back and forth with the drawbars on two tractors.

Wouldn't work in my case. The pond is partially surrounded by woods but it is one solution I could see working if the pond was suitable for it....

 

[Gale Hawkins]

What is a ball park size and shape of the pond?