Old ponds that need cleaning and other wonderful stuff

Hi all, I just found this newsgroup and had a few questions. I guess I
should attempt to describe the ponds on my property: there's an upper and
lower pond, seperated by a concrete dam (which I'm interested in
stonefacing, but more on that some other time) and fed by a stream. The
whole thing outlets in a drain in the lower pond to a stream that heads out
to the Hudson River so the water keeps moving through, even in the winter.
A LOT of sediment and sludge has built up in both ponds over the years as
the guy who owned this place before me never took care of them. Does anyone
know the most effective way to clean out the years of built up goop? I'm
also interested in raising the bottom up closer to the top as they're both
fairly deep in the middle and I worry about kids in the neighborhood falling
in. Has anyone done that and have any advice? Ideally, I'd like to be able
to see round river rock and boulders through the surface from the deck that
overlooks all this. Finally, I'd ultimately like to build a bridge across
the upper pond. This would be a fairly long bridge, about 25 feet or so -
has anyone seen any plans for something like that or know where I could find
them?

Thanks for any help,
Mike O'Connor

What a great set of projects. Enough for several years! I hope you don't
plan on doing anything else like working for a living :-)!

Since you hope to make your ponds shallower than they are now, why not just
redistribute the "goop" so the bottoms are about level. Just put the rocks
into the pond until the bottom is where you want it. Otherwise you will have
to do dredging with backhoes, filling with something, etc. a major pain, and
you will still have sediment coming downstream as the years pass. With my
suggestion, incoming sediment will settle between the rocks and you will
have many years before other maintainance is necessary. Only one problem:
rocks on the bottom are not easy to walk on, so you will probably not be
entering the pond often. If the middle is very deep, the cheapest pond
filler I can think of is coarse builder's sand. Build up the middle with
this stuff before putting in the rocks. Put it right on top of the goop.
With your running stream, no need to fear build up of rotting toxins.

I have built an 18 foot or so bridge across a stream on my property which
has held for about 10 years so far. For your 25 feet, you might need to
consider some kind of mid pond support, or a "suspension bridge" design with
a sturdy chain to support the middle of the bridge. Could be quite
spectacular. Like a miniature Verrazano Narrows bridge. :-)

"Mike O'Connor" wrote in message
. net...
Hi all, I just found this newsgroup and had a few questions. I guess I
should attempt to describe the ponds on my property: there's an upper and
lower pond, seperated by a concrete dam (which I'm interested in
stonefacing, but more on that some other time) and fed by a stream. The
whole thing outlets in a drain in the lower pond to a stream that heads
out
to the Hudson River so the water keeps moving through, even in the winter.
A LOT of sediment and sludge has built up in both ponds over the years as
the guy who owned this place before me never took care of them. Does
anyone
know the most effective way to clean out the years of built up goop? I'm
also interested in raising the bottom up closer to the top as they're both
fairly deep in the middle and I worry about kids in the neighborhood
falling
in. Has anyone done that and have any advice? Ideally, I'd like to be
able
to see round river rock and boulders through the surface from the deck
that
overlooks all this. Finally, I'd ultimately like to build a bridge across
the upper pond. This would be a fairly long bridge, about 25 feet or so -
has anyone seen any plans for something like that or know where I could
find
them?

Thanks for any help,
Mike O'Connor

What a great set of projects. Enough for several years! I hope you don't
plan on doing anything else like working for a living :-)!

Since you hope to make your ponds shallower than they are now, why not just
redistribute the "goop" so the bottoms are about level. Just put the rocks
into the pond until the bottom is where you want it. Otherwise you will have
to do dredging with backhoes, filling with something, etc. a major pain, and
you will still have sediment coming downstream as the years pass. With my
suggestion, incoming sediment will settle between the rocks and you will
have many years before other maintainance is necessary. Only one problem:
rocks on the bottom are not easy to walk on, so you will probably not be
entering the pond often. If the middle is very deep, the cheapest pond
filler I can think of is coarse builder's sand. Build up the middle with
this stuff before putting in the rocks. Put it right on top of the goop.
With your running stream, no need to fear build up of rotting toxins.

I have built an 18 foot or so bridge across a stream on my property which
has held for about 10 years so far. For your 25 feet, you might need to
consider some kind of mid pond support, or a "suspension bridge" design with
a sturdy chain to support the middle of the bridge. Could be quite
spectacular. Like a miniature Verrazano Narrows bridge. :-)

"Mike O'Connor" wrote in message
. net...
Hi all, I just found this newsgroup and had a few questions. I guess I
should attempt to describe the ponds on my property: there's an upper and
lower pond, seperated by a concrete dam (which I'm interested in
stonefacing, but more on that some other time) and fed by a stream. The
whole thing outlets in a drain in the lower pond to a stream that heads
out
to the Hudson River so the water keeps moving through, even in the winter.
A LOT of sediment and sludge has built up in both ponds over the years as
the guy who owned this place before me never took care of them. Does
anyone
know the most effective way to clean out the years of built up goop? I'm
also interested in raising the bottom up closer to the top as they're both
fairly deep in the middle and I worry about kids in the neighborhood
falling
in. Has anyone done that and have any advice? Ideally, I'd like to be
able
to see round river rock and boulders through the surface from the deck
that
overlooks all this. Finally, I'd ultimately like to build a bridge across
the upper pond. This would be a fairly long bridge, about 25 feet or so -
has anyone seen any plans for something like that or know where I could
find
them?

Thanks for any help,
Mike O'Connor