Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Help and advise with my "Black Lagoon"

I recently bought a defunct dairy with a 3-4 acre settlement pond,before the dairy it was a county borrow pit for gravel and is supposed to be over 50 feet in some areas.The water table is at 9-10 feet so draining is might be impossible. Right now I'm cleaning all the farm junk {40years}from the sides...now what should I do,It's kind of overwhelming!..thanks

Steve, welcome to the forum. If you can rent, beg or borrow a 3" semi-trash pump, you can pump a lot of water out. They will move around 15,000 gallons per hour, and might be able to keep up with the inflow of water.

See if you can put a boat in it with a depthfinder and drive all over it. That will give you an idea of what the depth actually is. Typically, what is "supposed" to be there, and the actual depth is greatly different.....

What are your goals for the pond?

thanks for the reply, my eventual goal is a fishing pond that looks nice,there are cat fish and bluegill in there now,but the place is an embarrassment!

Hi Steve,
If that pond was used for dairy waste, it likely has a large volume of anaerobic sludge at the bottom. If that is the case, it may be wise to pump out a large portion of the sludg. At the same time, aeration will help diminish the rest. I recommend the aerator one that forces aerated water to the bottom. Piping can be moved periodically to aerate other areas.