UGA
Welcome to Pond Boss.
Where in GA are you? My pond is near Milledgeville. If you are close maybe we can get together.
Several years ago I did work on my pond much as you are planning. My old drain was clogged up so I installed a syphon drain system. See
http://www.ponddampiping.com/syphon1.html Have you selected a contractor?
Good luck. Let me know if you wanna talk more about your project.
Frank