Massive pond overhaul

[root81]

I have an spring fed pond that looks horrible and I want to do something with it this summer, so I'm turning to you folks for suggestions and ideas. The pond is roundish, probably 30 feet in diameter with a bottom that slopes from 3 sides to a deepest point that is just over 6 feed deep. My plan is to pump it dry, and use either my tractor, or rent a backhoe to clean out the bottom which is full of decaying cattails and other junk, and also lay a new overflow pipe that should lower the water level to about 5 feet at the deepest.

My main problem is one side is a straight slope, and over time, it starts caving in. This side is also the side that will have the overflow pipe.

Winters are severe in my area, but the pond is deep enough to pass below the frost line, and has constantly moving water from the springs that feed it.

Any ideas on what I can do for landscaping to prevent the cliff side from caving in? Also what fish and plants would be good ideas? I guess the overflow would need a mesh to keep the fish from swimming to freedom...

I can also be quite lazy, so if anyone has ideas about how much it would cost to have a professional come in and do this for me, I'd appreciate it. I don't want to go out to a garden center to get a quote without having any sort of rough ballpark figure in mind...

 

[Dangerdoll]

your best bet may be to bulid a cement wall to curb the caving in. A lot of people create the entire foundation under the liner in cement in order to prevent the very same thing you mention. As far as having someone come in and do it, I have no idea what the cost of that would be but I would guess it would be at the very least in the thousands.

 

[hankn]

your best bet may be to bulid a cement wall to curb the caving in. A lot of people create the entire foundation under the liner in cement in order to prevent the very same thing you mention. As far as having someone come in and do it, I have no idea what the cost of that would be but I would guess it would be at the very least in the thousands.

I will be lining my pond with about a 1-2" layer of cement before the blanket and before the PVC liner due to moles in the area and I don't want them digging and getting to the PVC liner.

 

[Tesla_HV]

If you use cement/concrete as a liner, make sure that you use a quality sealant that is made for potable water. If not, ingredients in the cement will leech out into the water making it rise rapidly in pH.