TIL settling ponds need way more attention than I thought

Checked out a job near Baton Rouge last week where the settling pond was almost full of silt. The operator said he hadn't touched it in 3 years and now the whole thing is clogged up. Anyone else deal with ponds that turn into a mess this fast?

2 comments

2 Comments

patking17h ago

Wait, did he really go 3 years without even checking on it? I had a buddy who ran into the same deal back in 2018 with his pond near a construction site up in Mississippi. He thought he could just leave it alone and it would fix itself, but by the time he looked at it, the silt was packed so hard he had to rent a backhoe to dig it out. Cost him a lot more than if he'd just done a little maintenance every few months. Your mileage may vary, but that story always stuck with me as a warning to stay on top of these things.

james_butler17h ago

Have you ever seen one of these ponds actually work fine after being ignored that long? I'm not sure your buddy's story from 2018 is the whole picture, @patking. There's a difference between a pond that's been totally ignored and one that's been set up right from the start. I've had good luck with ponds that have a good liner and a proper overflow system. If you build it with enough capacity and get the slope right, you can go a lot longer between cleanouts than folks think. Not saying you can forget it forever, but a little planning upfront saves a lot of backhoe bills later.