I am going through the process of renovating a 4.4 acre pond now. I siphoned 90% of the water out over ~10 days using 4" PVC pipe. The long reach excavator and dozer came in right away. This is a big project and not for the faint of heart. But they can get in there as long as they can dig down to the hard pan, the dozer can push mud pretty well. They put a big cut in the dam and are pushing a lot of it through the cut. My pond is so big though that some of it is having to be pushed to the corners and slung over the dam with the excavator. It is not done yet, so will see how it goes, but i'm pleased with my decision so far. I toiled with this decision for a long time before pulling the trigger. I was not able to build a new pond elsewhere as this one is in the perfect location. The dam on my pond was in pretty bad shape. It will get a whole new very thick lining of clay at the end of the project. This is by no means an inexpensive project but I feel like it is doing it right by getting rid of the root of most of the problems....all that mud and nutrient in the bottom. Unbelievable amounts of mud too. 60 year old pond. Stay tuned.
