Thanks, guys, for the info and the welcome.
The suction I was referring to was the drainage / overflow system from
Pond Dam Piping which was in a thread in the "Building A Dam" section. It is an intriguing concepts, and I'd love to see one in action.
But "Suction Dredging" does bring up an interesting idea. Yes, there are areas of my pond bed that are now exposed or too shallow, and would not qualify for this approach. But I wonder if I could save time or money by a combined approach - having the deep areas suction-dredged back to their original depth prior to bursting the dam - and then having the shallows dredged in the traditional manner. Of course, a half acre isn't huge, so it may not pay the cost of even getting someone down here to do it. Any thoughts?
