Cleaning out the pond.

[keegs]

Had an excavator by yesterday to make an opening in the dam. The water flowed out with a thunder and a roar for a few hours. There's a pretty deep hole in the middle retaining quite a bit of water still. The plan it to dig a sediment basin upstream of the main feeder to manage the silt. Then dig down a few more feet clearing out the silt and weeds. Hope it will hold water when we're done... Have no idea what I'm doing.

 

[rekees4300]

Be careful not to dig too deeply near the dam or the water will leak under it. You are going to be amazed by the volume of muck that is in there. That stuff is nasty and will take a couple years to dry out. Hope you have a good place to put it? Good luck.

 

[brin]

I remember a past conversation I had with a PHD at the Forestry Dept. in Georgia regarding my pond....during our conversation he said..." You should know that all ponds, spring fed or not will eventually revert back...they will fill with silt over time...The spring fed ponds will end up as a small creek and the others will just be a bog....unless they are dredged as needed...

 

[timster2]

Can the muck dredged from the pond bottom be used as soil for the garden? I have a pond that needs some dredging and was wondering if the muck could be used as is or should it be mixed with some soil. With the lack of rain the pond is at an all time low and I was thinking of taking advantage of the low water level to dredge the pond.

 

[TCJatko]

Can the muck dredged from the pond bottom be used as soil for the garden? I have a pond that needs some dredging and was wondering if the muck could be used as is or should it be mixed with some soil. With the lack of rain the pond is at an all time low and I was thinking of taking advantage of the low water level to dredge the pond.

I'd think that the gunk on the bottom would make ideal garden soils once it dried. Maybe mixed with some sand and other local soil.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I'd think that the gunk on the bottom would make ideal garden soils once it dried. Maybe mixed with some sand and other local soil.

When we dug out our pond, nothing would grow on the spoils, not even weeds or grass. It has been 5 years now and it is just in the last year that some grass has grown on the spoils that we used to raise the levees. I wouldn't use it on my garden without mixing it thoroughly with some fertile soil and only then after doing an experimental spot to see what happens.

 

[timster2]

I'm sure someone has tried this and didn't want to do something I would regret in the long run. I have a pile of topsoil that I scraped up clearing a spot for a shelter and wood storage and was thinking of mixing it all together to make some garden soil. Just want to make sure I was not going to cause problems.

 

[keegs]

The idea I had was to put the dredge material in piles to drain some then dump it over the side of the dam. It stinks.

The deepest point in the pond appears to be close to the dam. Will clean up some cattails along the dam and that should do it for that area.

The sediment basin, if designed right, should capture most of the silt coming in from the feeder brook. At least I hope it will....

 

[skylarkguy]

You may consider building a sluice gate across that new opening. Something that opens from the bottom. That way you can let out sediment somewhat each season.

 

[boggen]

The sediment basin, if designed right, should capture most of the silt coming in from the feeder brook. At least I hope it will....

search for "settling chambers" on www.koiphen.com

more so if you have a creak / grass areas of fields that feed the lake. a DIY settling chamber (area were you can get in with a backhoe) to dig a dirt hole / trench. before the water enters the pond/lake. can help settle and remove a good amount of solids. again if designed correctly. normally with settling chambers though require a good amount of space. settling chambers work better with large "dwell time" there are 2 different main types, round / cylinder shape settling chambers, and then long wider/deeper settling chambers.

the actual stuff coming into the pond/lake, may be to small / light in weight / mass to actually settle out. at which case a settling chamber is basically useless. and may only be effective in the sudden large down pours of rain, were proper grass water ways are not able to filter out majority of the heavier / bigger stuff, due to, to much rain water to handle at one time.

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the sledge ya getting from the pond, a warning, you can get yourself into trouble, with various "smell laws / nuisance laws" or how ever it is worded. kinda like taking pig waste and spreading it on a field but not properly injecting it to a given depth and /or mixing it with the soil. to help reduce the stink along with make sure it does not wash away during the next couple rains.

the stuff coming out of the pond, you may try to work it like a compost pile. were maintaining proper heat inside the pile. to keep the bugs, parasites, bacteria, etc... in good healthy condition. along with mixing some soil with it. but this may mean dealing with what ever ya taking out a couple times a day turning it over. ya need to remember the sledge coming out from bottom of a lake is basically a "septic system on your home" from fish waste, to dead rotten fish that predators didn't eat, to urine from animals, to everything else.
other words treat it with some respect, along with were you place it and were winds blow, if the stink blows into your home, or a neighbors home you maybe in for some trouble!

you may find it takes a couple years for the sledge coming out of the lake to actual be use-able / be able to drive on it without sinking. along with you may find that it may not be a suitable substance to use as a deeper compaction layer soil. "to squishy / wet" and if placed in areas were "wash outs could occur" such as in ditches, hills, etc... it may end up leaving large wash outs within it. and cause erosion problems for years to come if not correctly dealt with.
other words, don't dig a hole and push all the crud into it, and then cover it up with some dry dirt. other words, find a place to put it were it can drain water out of it, but still allow water to drain without causing major washout / erosion to happen.