Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Shallow Pond Muck Removal

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.

That is a very nice little pond! I understand why you would like to keep it well maintained.

Since it drains to a creek, I assume you can pump it dry? How is the pond sealed? (Clay or plastic liner?)

If it does NOT have a plastic liner, I would pump it dry prior to your most likely hot and dry weather. (Middle of July to late August?) Let it dry as much as possible. (It might be stinky during this period.) If it rains, then pump it dry again.

I would then rent the largest mini-excavator that I had the capability to haul. The rental place will also have an equipment trailer for rent. Have them install the widest bucket they carry for that machine.

The rubber tracks will not cause any damage driving over your rocked shoreline. You should be able to move the muck out of that pond in a day. That type of machine is very easy to learn, and you will be pretty efficient in 30 minutes. IMO, you can only make two operating errors. First, driving sideways on a steep slope and tipping the excavator. Second, digging too deep and excavating through the clay liner. You can also make a "management" error, which is to dig into a utility or pipeline. Make sure you call your local service 3 days before you start any excavations!

With a fairly large mini-excavator, you can scoop and swing out a bucket of muck to your spoils pile over most of the pond. In the deepest part, you may have to move the material twice to get it beyond the boundaries of the pond.

The more difficult part is handling the spoils. If they are still very runny after your pond drying period, then you will probably have to pound in a section of silt fencing and dump over the fence. If they are as firm as pudding or even stiffer, you can probably pile them on the bank.

Even better, would be to dump the bucket into your conveyance for removing the spoils. A dump trailer, buddy's pick up, bed of ATV, rented concrete buggy, etc.

If you can't move it then, there is a little "dozer blade" on the front of the excavator. You can spread the spoils with the blade and let them dry, and then move them to their final destination in small bites if needed.

You have eyeballs on the actual site, so I am sure you can improve on my suggestions above. In my area, I could rent that equipment for less than $500 and do it over a weekend. That gives you more time to work, and no extra fees until you go over 8 hours on the meter.

Way below 10K, but lots of labor on your part - although it is fun to operate even a mini-excavator in small doses. It will not be as clean as a big contractor's ability, but you would still get your main goal accomplished.

Good luck on your improvement project!

Clog the drains with muck...

The stormwater drains are pretty much always providing some amount of water, so pumping it dry would mean blocking the pipes, which I don't think I can do.

There is no plastic liner, so it must be clay. In the summer if there hasn't been rain for a while, it dries up quite a bit, so I could potentially excavate then. The reason why I wanted to go the vacuum route is that I live in the suburbs with several neighbors and that way is "cleaner." But if that isn't an option, I guess excavation is the way to go.

Robby see your private message for more company info.

I was just throwing out an alternative to the "vacuum route". You can still try your original option.

Use the advanced search option on the forum. There are multiple threads in there of things people have tried that worked. There are also examples of things people tried that didn't work, and they give the reasons.

I am a big fan of experimenting when attempting novel (to me) projects. Maybe go pump a little muck out on some nice weekend. Install a little row of silt fencing to filter and catch the debris. See how easily you can clear a small area.

After you get that info, I think you will have a much better idea of what modifications are needed and you can plan properly for when you are ready to perform the big job.

I was just making a joke... clog the drains so it becomes the cities project instead of yours. They told you exactly what needs done so that they can do it for you.