Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Where to begin..

Hello All,

I have recently purchased a house that has a 1/4 acre pond on it. Within the last 5 or so years the previous owner removed the fish and partially filled the pond in. The pond used to hold LMB and Blue Gills.

There are two water run offs for the neighborhood that fill the pond and an overflow pipe on the opposite end. At this time I would say the pond is about 4 feet deep at it's deepest. Previous depth was 10-12' (per neighbors). Since the banks are as shallow as they are cattails have taken over leaving only the very center of the pond clear of growth.

I would like to restore this pond and reintroduce fish.

I'm in talks with a local company to see what can be done but was hopeful to gain some insight from the pros on this site. There aren't many companies that I could find in PA that complete this type of work.

I guess what I'm looking for here is some direction. I'm sure I'll need to drain the pond, have it excavated, refilled, plant life restored and then stock.

I do not have access to heavy equipment or a location to dump whatever is removed from the pond. Is this a typical job for an excavating company? A typical sign doesn't read "We dig out filled in ponds"

If anyone has any further thoughts or directions on where I should go with this project the pointers are appreciated! Maybe there's another way to tackle this that I'm not considering.

Thanks!

Do you know why they filled it in or started to? Was there a problem with it holding water? If you can ask these questions may lead you to your next step. The other owner may ever tell you who built it. You could call them if the pond held water the first time. Good luck!

Where in PA is the pond? I'm no expert on ponds, but I would be a bit apprehensive of a typical dirt mover building a pond. Maybe just digging out fill / sediment a local contractor would be ok. I bet someone will have some local contacts for pond builders you could discuss with. There might be a need to bypass some of the run-off to keep it from silting in too quickly. Best of luck!

You will need to have space to put the sludge and dirt taken out of the pond, or have it hauled away, which gets expensive. I had my 1/4 acre pond renovated and cleaned out last summer. I have about 270 cubic yards of spoil spread out in the field below the pond in a patch about 100 feet long and about 30 feet wide. It will take about a year to dry, then we will place it tightly against the foot of the dam, making the back of the dam less steep. That clean-out added at least 60,000 gallons of capacity to the pond.

One of the neighbors thought it was dangerous as kids would frequent the pond. The neighbor started bringing dirt in to fill the pond with the owners permission. I was told that bucket after bucket of fish were removed from the pond before hand. The entire situation makes me sad, it's at least worth looking into to see if there's anything that can be done at this point.

I'll continue to work with a local company that specializes in this type of work to see what they come back with.

Thanks for the replies all!

Nosy neighbors like that totally disgust me. They need to go live in a nanny state.

Jeez, crossing the street is dangerous too.

Teach the kids how to swim, and lay down the law on not going near the pond unless accompanied by a responsible adult.

I was fishing on a lake by myself walking around the shore when I was 9. I was told don't go past "That house that way or that house that way". Each way was over 1/4 mile in each direction.......

I knew how to swim about the same time I learned how to walk.

Yes, I moved to where I am to get away from nosy "I know better than you!" neighbors.

I don't worry about the pond with kids as all of them that visit are like fish. My big problem was a spring-fed "ice castle" that towered up about 10'. (Water spraying on branches) I came home from work one day to realize there were kid footprints all over it, and way up on top. I decided that it probably was a bit more liability than I could handle if someone slipped on that and hurt themselves. It got large enough that winter that it made the paper, only I was in Chihuahua when the interview took place. My poor wife ;-).

If a neighbor decided to try and fill or drain my pond, that would not be a pretty event. I may get another interview in the paper.