Pond Dredging

The property we purchased last year has a 3-acre pond on it that we have been drawing from for irrigation. This year has been so dry that the pond dropped to the point where I'm having trouble drawing out of it. I'm told by neighbors that it used to be a much bigger lake, but silted in and has been choked out with cat tails. There are about two acres of cat tails around the pond. The previous owners had a study done that showed three springs feeding the pond, but I think this year they are no longer flowing. The open water gets choked with algae and weeds this time of year, and there is several feet of thick mud at the bottom. What are my options for deepening the pond? I don't want to risk stopping the springs. The pond sits at the bottom of a coulee with steep sides that would make it difficult (though maybe not impossible) to get large equipment to the water. Has anybody dredged with a trackhoe before? What other options are there?

Around here a few guys have LONG reach trackhoes just for that job, like 60 foot reach. Or a grade all--telescoping arm dredger made to drive along dirt roads and dredge the ditches. Those still can't get to the middle of a 3 acre pond. So most people here cut the dam, drain the lake, and use a bulldozer. It is faster and cheaper and you can deepen the middle much easier, too.

You probably need permits for it in your area. See what they allow with and without permits and then adjust your plans accordingly.

We have cleaned ponds both around the edges with a track hoe and by drying them up and bull dozing. Be aware drying them up and bull dozing is more work than it sounds. We are in heavy clay soils here and a pond that had been dry for a decade was still wet enough about 2 or 3 feet down to stick a large dozer. The problem with track hoes is where the spoil goes. It is easy to end up with a 10 to 20 ft high bank around the edges of the pond and still have an island in the middle you couldn't reach.