Need help - emptying pond

[John Fitzgerald]

Yes, you are right. You could easily get stuck, then slide out into the pond. Best to have a bulldozer come and do it. Most have a 2 hour minimum, and it probably wouldn't take much longer. A dozer is not designed to compact soils, but to more easily stay on top than a tractor.

 

[crreed67]

The only comment by the OP related to backfilling was that he was concerned about making a big mud ball. Putting dirt in water does make mud, but it also displaces the water. I wouldn't want to drive into the pond right after backfilling, but, over a relatively short period of time, the water will seep out and the substrate should get increasingly stable.

Thank you. Well put.

 

[kthompson]

I have move a few yards of dirt filling in low areas, both dry and holes with water in them. If he is filling this pond with his tractor posted he probably will find it drying if he fills around the pond and towards the center. Now if it is being filled with clay might be issue. If being filled with mud, also different. But if decent dirt that water will drain through do think it will work. Well it has for me. Just to clear any record here I had read each post before I posted earlier. That is why I recommended not spreading the dirt for that will be mud.

 

[tractorshopper]

Yes, it's pure, red, South Carolina clay. I've decided that I'm going to buy the HF 2" semi-trash pump and empty it with that before dismantling the dam to fill in the hole.

Don't get me wrong, I liked having this pond. My neighbors and I spent a lot of time feeding my ducks and enjoying them. I like to fish, but never did stock this. My thing is a fence would be an eyesore and make it even more complicated to mow around and I can't live with the idea that one of the area kids could play in it and drown. Peace of mind is worth it to me.

 

[PJSprog]

The Wife and I have been bandying this idea around for a few years now. Ours is about 1/2 acre. Neither of us care to fish, and frankly it's just one more thing we need to maintain. We've gone back and forth with 1) leave it and deal with it, 2) fill the back half and extend the pasture, or 3) just fill in the whole thing and be done with it. I'm for filling the whole thing. It's long and skinny, and I think the area would make a swell 100-yard rifle range :thumbsup:. The Wife is currently wanting to fill half and turn the remaining half into a koi fish pond (even more work, I reminded her ).

So, I can relate to the notion of not wanting a pond, David.

 

[oosik]

Oh well, today I "don't have permission to perform this action" - - upload photos. Anyhow - I have a five acre lake that's 80 feet deep and has absolutely vertical walls, rather than any type of beach. Nature carved my lake out of basaltic lava. When we jump off any of the cliffs and land a couple of feet out from the cliff wall - the water is at least 45 feet deep. There is one cut in the lava cliff wall on this side of the lake that allows us to climb back up on top. These lava cliffs average 40 feet tall.

I've always been very concerned about potential drowning and to that extent children that visit are NEVER allowed around the lake without adult supervision. Also, anybody that wants to go out near the lake MUST be wearing a life jacket. And I DO mean anybody.

This condition has angered some folks - but rather an angry parent than a parent attempting to fish a "floater" out of my lake.

I think the OP is smart to dewater the pond and even let it dry out for a while before doing the filling. A tractor will sink quicker than a wink in wet squishy dirt.

 

[jaxs]

I think the OP is smart to dewater the pond and even let it dry out for a while before doing the filling. A tractor will sink quicker than a wink in wet squishy dirt.

Yea,well that might be so but as someone suggested above,couldn't he use a dozer? Not just any old dozer mind you. A Cat or Deere might sink but Gerridae make's one they call their Jesus Bug that is supposed to scamper across bogs and swamps.

 

[Streetcar]

Yes, it's pure, red, South Carolina clay. I've decided that I'm going to buy the HF 2" semi-trash pump and empty it with that before dismantling the dam to fill in the hole.

Don't get me wrong, I liked having this pond. My neighbors and I spent a lot of time feeding my ducks and enjoying them. I like to fish, but never did stock this. My thing is a fence would be an eyesore and make it even more complicated to mow around and I can't live with the idea that one of the area kids could play in it and drown. Peace of mind is worth it to me.

Try champion pumps, they were cheaper than harbor freight after hose purchase. I used mine for dewatering a grading project for a year with no problems

 

[kthompson]

I am not being critical to anyone here with what ever their thought is on how to drain or fill the pond but it can be amazing how often "I" or anyone else will be certain that something will not work only to find out that is how it was solved because the person solving the issue such as filling the pond did not know it was not suppose to work. Like using a subsoiler to bury a line when what a subsoiler was made for was to crack a hardpan and was not a pipe laying machine. All I am saying it as the old saying goes there is more than one way to skin a cat but as has been said why do you want to skin a cat. I think the time he wants this job completed in will dictate the best method to fill the pond and how to handle the water.

The concern of someone drowning in a pond is a valid concern for two real reason, the loss of life and the feeling of guilt you may feel wondering could you as owner have prevented it? Of course the other is legal liability which is also a very real concern. Just like a pool or a trampoline is consider an "attractive nuisance" because it attaches those who can be harmed by it just being there and a pond falls into that same I think. So if you have a pond either make good effort to fence or somehow prevent children or such being able to get there easily or insured it against the possible liability or both.

 

[Texasmark]

Check with your local volunteer fire department...for a small donation they may come out and drain your pond for you...classic suction training for department engineers...

That's a great idea as they need to get the equipment out and exercise it periodically anyway. Nothing to loose in asking them about it?