Well, Otto, the fun has started. We ran one pump for a week straight just to get the level of the water down. We ended up running the pump 12 hr out of every day just to stay ahead of the water that was coming in, and I ended up buying another pump to get ahead when the rains came thru. I learned a lot about pumping out a pond. 1) keep the suction hose off of the bottom, or it will get plugged, even if it's placed in a bucket.
2) Keep the suction hose as short as possible, or else it'll get covered with sand and then it's impossible to get out without going thru a LOT of work.
3) The best way to place the suction end is inside of a truck innertube, tied so the suction end is just below the surface.
I used a 15,000 GPH trash pump to dewater the pond, and at times, one pump wasn't enough. The groundwater was running down to the level of the clay, then filtering into the pond as we were digging. As it came in, it pulled in the sand/gravel that was on top of the clay. It was a constant battle.
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If you go back and take a look at the 4th picture from the top, in front of the white chair you can just see a pipe sticking up from the bottom of the pond. The previous year I placed that pipe in dry ground at the edge of the water, and marked 1' increments on it with black tape up to 5'. The black mark @ 5' is just barely visible at about the same level as the green grass under the oak tree. Right now, that is the current water level of the pond (2-28-2009).
