To encourage a healthy life and the safety of residents, pond dredging is a necessary maintenance task for any property owner with a pond. The process helps to remove silt, sediment, and even trash or other debris that may collect in a pond, making it difficult for the right balance of water and oxygen to sustain plant and fish life.
Ponds require maintenance because they don’t have moving water. That is, no streams feed into and move water out of the pond, making ponds more challenging to maintain as organic material builds up within them and settles to the bottom. The benefits of professional pond dredging ensure a better balance within that pond environment while also helping to ensure the work is done in a way that facilitates growth.
The Benefits of Pond Dredging
The following are some of the most common benefits of having your pond dredged:
- It can improve the pond’s life cycle, which helps bring in birds and a healthy plant life but maintains the overall health of the pond itself.
- It creates valuable topsoil, as the muck pulled up can be mixed with soil to create a higher nutrient base.
- It can improve property values when maintained well
Overall, dredging improves the ecosystem within the pond. That is why it is nearly always a necessary step for pond owners.
What Type of Dredging Project Do You Need?
For overall pond management, work with a professional organization that can offer a range of strategies for improving the body of water’s overall health. Consider the following types of pond dredging projects:
Mechanical Dredging
Mechanical dredging removes weeds, sediment, and other components that make up the muck on the pond’s bottom. This method will require the pond to be fully drained and all aquatic life relocated or killed off. Heavy equipment is brought in along the shoreline of the pond. While mechanical dredging is one option, it’s rarely recommended because of the disruption it causes to the pond itself.
Hydraulic Dredging
Hydraulic dredging is a more modern version because it doesn’t scoop up the material at the bottom in the same way. Instead, it acts like a vacuum that sucks up and filters out the material. This allows for more depth to be created within the pond. This is a standard option for offshore dredging work that uses jetting cutting or mechanical technology to handle the chopping and sucking up of the material.
Suction Dredging
Another option is a suction dredging system that will use a suction pump from start to finish. These are positioned in the pond and work to remove the sediment at the bottom of it. This method is more cost-effective in placing the equipment and using it, and the material removed is typically placed into a field where it can dissolve into the ground.
What Can Be Removed During a Pond Dredging Project?
Improving the overall health of your pond is the primary goal, which means you should choose a pond dredging method that can attack the specific types of concerns present at your location. That can differ from one environment to the next.
Pond dredging can remove:
- Muck
- Sediment
- Silt
- Trash
- Debris
- Most types of organic material buildup
However, some methods do not allow for the removal of non-organic matter, making removing trash a bit more challenging. Also, dredging does not control algae and cannot reduce odor problems. It also does not automatically prevent a fish kill. You may need additional strategies to support the improvement of water quality.
How Long Does Pond Dredging Take?
When you reach out to our team for professional pond dredging, we will provide an estimate on the timeline based on a visit and inspection of your project. All projects are dependent on several things.
Most of the time, it can take a few hours, though more commonly, a few days, to manage a small pond project. If you are getting lake dredging or having a much larger pond cared for, that will take additional time. Sometimes, it can take a month or longer for the entire project to be completed.
Factors that impact pond and lake maintenance include:
- The size of the pond, including the depth and the overall circumference.
- What is in the water – the more built up the muck is, the longer it takes to remove it.
- The amount that needs to be removed based on the method used.
- The type of equipment used and how efficient it is.
Ultimately, you can expect the project to take some time to set up and complete, even on a small project, but the benefits are well worth the wait. Contact K.E. Braza to discuss your pond dredging needs with our trusted team.