Hi,
New member here looking for some advice. My property in the Chicagoland area has a small "pond" that is formed from the convergence of two stormwater drains that then empties via a creek to a much larger retention pond in the subdivision. It is roughly 60x30ft and up to about 2 feet deep.
Here is a picture. The issue is that there is up to about 2 feet of muck in certain areas, and it can smell. I have received a few quotes from landscaping and pond management companies for excavating and vacuuming the muck, and they were all over $10k, which is out of my budget.
Therefore, I was thinking of renting a 3" (diaphragm) trash pump for a week and pumping the sludge into dewatering bags myself. Has anyone done this with success?
My biggest concern is that the sludge will be too thick and because the pond is shallow, that the pump will be taking in too much air/not enough water to actually move the muck.
I should add that I had conversations with my city's stormwater team and the city engineer, and they said that the muck is my problem.
They'd only help if the drains were clogged, which they are not.Thanks for reading.
