Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? DIY pond renovation

Last fall I posted pix of a couple of new ponds I acquired. Having checked both ponds for depth this spring, one proved to be nice and deep, but the one shown here has a max depth of 3 1/2 feet.

While I know is it usually cheaper to build a new pond than renovate an old one, this pond is in an ideal location near where my son will soon be building a house.
We could see that the vertical part of the drain tube was seeping water and would need to be replaced. So we decided to start draining the pond. The area near the drain is only about 18" deep. On Monday I took a hammer, chisel and hacksaw and started to cut and bend a section of the tube over to start the draining. As I pounded on it, the rusty seeping area began to leak more, so I gave it a few wacks with the hammer and soon opened up a bigger area.

Our plan is to keep at this a few inches at a time until we are at the muck level. Then one way or the other keep digging and draining.
I don't know how much of this we'll get done before calling in the professionals, but in the future you can expect to see my JD350 crawler and JD tractor and soil mover buried up to their axles.

I think that what you are planning is wise based on the pond's location and your son's plans.

However, I'd fully drain it as soon as possible and start to rehabilitate it. You are going to need the intense Nebraska summer sun to make it feasible to work the muck.

I can't tell from the photos if it has a dam. I assume the drain goes through or under a dam. If it does, I'd breach the dam, and the let all the water out now. If if doesn't have a dam, I'd rent a trash pump, and pump it dry to the point where you can keep it constantly draining.

You might be without the pond for the whole summer, and maybe even next summer while the muck dries, but it would be worth it. If it has several feet of muck, it will be some time before it will be dry enough to get the crawler and tractor in there -- been there, done that -- up to the belly of the beast (65 hp beast). But, with having a JD350 that you can use a little bit at a time -- and a tractor big enough to help boost the crawler out if it gets mired in the muck, I'd go for it. After a month or so of drying, and before burying the crawler, you probably would do yourself a favor if you rented an excavator or a trackhoe to get started around the periphery. That way, you can get below the wet level of the muck from a safe distance, and it will help drain the muck in the middle. Even a small to medium size excavator can move an incredible amount of muck in a day, especially if you put 3-4 foot bucket on it. If you are renting an excavator, they will tell you that you are crazy for wanting such a big bucket, but it should be very easy digging.

Good luck,
Ken

It has a dam, which we may end up breaching, though our hope is to work our way down all the way to the horizontal tube. Since the vertical tube is so rusty perhaps the horizontal is also and we'll have to dig it out to replace it. Either that or perhaps stick a tube one size smaller in the old one. Anyone ever done that?

I agree about getting an excavator rather than trying to drown your bulldozer. Even if all the water has gone, muck can be a very tricky thing. It seems like it's dry but such is only the surface of it. It gets hard and keeps lots of water inside.
Theoretically you can break the surface numerous times to get all muck dry but you can't reach the middle of the pond, can you?

Anyway, good luck!

Record breaking heat and dry weather would be my best friend. I figure there's a 95% chance we'll be calling in an excavator, but I figure the more I can drain and dry before that time, the easier it will be for him, which means cheaper for me.

I agree. Do as much as you can and let all other to be done by professionals.

What about dragging some sort of bucket across the pond (via chains or cable) to make some drainage ditches back to the pipe to allow the muck to let go of its water? Is that sort of thing done? Just curious.

Interesting idea but do you really think that such ditches will remain in good condition for a long time? This muck is a semi-liquid thing and not a rock...

The pond is only about an acre in size so I am hoping that it the deepest part of the pond won't be too far from the drain. If it is, since my son is going to live there, I'll give him a shovel and say, "Here you go boy."

I would rent a back hoe and dig around the pipe as much as possible to get as much drainage to the pipe.

If you don't plan to keep the pipe as is...then cut it off at the lowest point after the "trench" digging near the pipe...

My experience is to put in a new pipe and disable the old...

Draw the water in and let it flow..

Dry the rest out and go to work while you have a small pond around the pipe...

Just some late night random thoughts..

Good luck.

I think that's about what I'm going to have to do. I'm going to have to figure out how to get a backhoe to it without rolling it or getting it stuck in the mud. Only a really large excavator could reach it from the top of the dam.

How many feet from the top of the dam to the bottom of the pipe?

Probably 25'.

That's approaching middlin' sized excavators. One rental place here has long stick excavators for rent, the biggest one reaches 90'.

The problem with renting an excavator is what do you do with the stuff you excavate. You can pile it up around the pond and hope like heck you don't get so much rain that it gets washed back in before you can haul it away. Of course if you throw it over the dam you're okay.
I might try scooping into my soil mover. If that proves too slow I'll likely have to hire a guy with an excavator and dump truck.

You're right. It's easiest to handle the soil once, scooping it out and placing into a dump truck or a scraper.

At least the drought is good for something. Here's the pond today. My son and I have been doing some digging with my JD 350 crawler. I told him that I thought we were spitting in the wind (though that's not the exact wording I used. He estimated it would 500 hours to get it dug out with this little machine. Time to rent a bigger loader or call in a contractor.

A dang good dozer driver can do an awful lot more than an enthusiastic amateur. I would dig a couple of holes in that stuff. It might be pudding underneath.

500 hours you could drive it cross country in that time.. GIT-R-DONE.. just keep whatever in front of the dozer deep enough to be stable and start cutting paths across that baby..

Disclaimer- I know nothing about machinery

The contractor finally showed up to begin the process of cleaning out the pond. Shown here he is installing a new horizontal drain tube. It takes experience to dribble a little dirt on top of the pipe with a machine that big.

The old rusty galvanized metal vertical drain is in the weeds near where you can see the transit sitting. It will get filled with concrete.
They were supposed to start digging out the pond today, but wouldn't you know, last night we had the heaviest one day rain total since June.

That's just poor planning. Think about it next time and send the rain to me.

Here he has started digging out the pond. Right now he's throwing dirt over the dam. In case you are wondering this is costing me about $3 a minute.

It's amazing how much dirt washes into a pond over the years. He's at least ten feet below the surface and hasn't reached what he considers the original bottom. It should make for a good deep pond when he gets done.

Do you think he will be able to reach the whole center by staying at the bank all the way around?

Ten feet down, over that whole area! Boy, that would have taken alot of time to haul away on your own. I'm sure it will even take him some time to move it. Did you hire him by the hour, or set price on the whole job?

Edit: Also , if you think that much has washed in over the years, do you have any stategy to prevent this much from washing in again?

We'll know more next week, but the plan is when he gets done with what he can throw over the dam to bring in a truck and haul it away. He and the truck should be able to work from what will be the shallow water areas around the edges.
As for setting a price, we kind of decided that he'd work about 40 hours. After that, we'll have to decide if we want him to dig more, or if I want to be able to afford to eat this winter.
It took probably took 40 years to fill in, so in another 40 years I'll probably either be dead or too old to care.

How big was this pond before starting this work?

How large you plan on making it?

We have one that has a depth like this one we are considering fixing so I will be watching this thread.

I do wish we would have gone ahead and cut the dam out to finish draining this year during the drought then it would have dried up.