Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Hydraulic dredging to remove sediment.

I am new member from SE Iowa. I have a 0.6 acre pond which I had built about 30 years ago. At the time it was built it was about 18' deep at the deepest part. It is now about 12' deep in that spot and full of weeds, duckweed, and watermeal. I had a fish kill 3 years ago and have not restocked because I want to clean the pond first. I am newly retired and now have time to deal with this situation. I am considering buying or building or hiring someone with a hydraulic dredge to clean out the sediment. Does anyone have any experience with this type of dredging? If so, what are your suggestions? Thanks.
Howie

Can you pump it dry? If so, you could have a dozer and excavator clean it out.

Yeah, I would pump it out and dozer/track hoe it. Cost will be less and probably do a better job.

There are several past threads on this process if you can search it correctly.

That's what I did. After pumping out all but watery sludge, the backhoe was set up on one corner of the pond, near where the sludge would be piled, and he dug a big hole. After removing all the trees/bushes from the banks, the dozer started pushing sludge from the edge into the hole, working toward the center. The backhoe, with large bucket, began dipping out the sludge from the hole and dropping it over the bank. When the pile got big, the dozer would come out and push it away. Repeated until done, then it looked like a new pond. I have about 300 to 400 cubic yards of sludge and clay from the clean out still drying after nine months. The sludge initially looked like wet concrete. But, we may have cleaned out too deep, because the pond is losing about 7/8 inch of water most days, and I have to pump from an intermittent creek to keep water in it. Hoping it will eventually seal.

Thanks for the info. I am still interested in the hydraulic dredging though as I do not want to tear up the area near the pond. Anyone ever do dredging with a pump?

I agree with that small of a pond and since you have not restocked I would rent a high capacity sump pump to drain the pond and then clean it out when it's dry. Be done with it clean, simple, and less expensive. And don't forget you say you don't want to "tear up the area near the pond", but even dredging it you are going to have a large mess on your hands when the stuff you remove has got to go somewhere. If you use a small machine when it is dry it shouldn't tear up the area around your pond.

I have but offshore in the oilfields, due to your water depth and I assume no diving experience(also it's not the safest thing to do solo in water) you would be blind dredging if you were to put it on a pole or rope and lower the rig to where you want to excavate it would work. But then if your pond is clay lined you run the risk of punching through your clay.

Here is an old thread where I explained the process. If you need any more assistance feel free to hit me up and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=32990&Number=431921#Post431738