Pond Clean Up.... seeking advice...

[erparamedic]

Hi, all..

Our neighborhood is doing a pond clean-up around the edges and shore this weekend. My husband and I are feeling... oh... adventurous, and wanna cleanup the bottom of the pond (dives slated for Aug. 26). Of course, we're taking LOTS of precautions... not an arbitrary "jump in a pond". The goal is to clean up the trash down there, if it's safe to do so (we'll know the condition when we get down there). There will be lots of people on shore, we will have a detailed plan, etc. The pond is supposedly about 35 feet deep in the middle and spring fed. From what I hear (yeah, I know, it's hear-say) there's appliances, carpet rolls, basic trash, and most likely, some fishing line, etc, etc. I'm sure the viz is, well... terrible, but we're used to no/low viz. If we get down there, and it just looks too dangerous or bad, we'll call the dive. (We will just tell them that the fish were mutated and glowing, so we got the hell out! LOL)

Many on this board have done clean ups, and I am looking for helpful advice. I'm also looking for more divers that would want to help out... so if anyone is in the Indianapolis area, and wanna help out, please send me a PM.

So... what kind of helpful info can you offer me?

 

[Gary D.]

All I can say is be careful, very very careful.

Are there any people that draw their water from the pond? If so you might just want to leave the junk down there. Disturbing the bottom can cause more problems than they solve.

Gary D.

 

[teknitroxdiver]

I suggest staying out of the pond. About 1/4 mile from where I sit now is a flooded rock quarry. At the bottom is various things such as a car, a bulldozer, a drill rig, a cash register (with cash), lots of barbed wire, fishing line, random metal junk including road signs, and possibly a body if somebody hasn't gotten it by now or the fish aren't done yet. Last summer I decided to give it a shot and see what was down there.

Bad idea. Viz was about 1'. As in, put the end of a ruler against your mask and you MIGHT see the end. It also means you see the bottom right before you impact . It was not fun, nor safe, nor a good idea, nor something I'll be doing again.

I do not suggest it.

I have however done some lake cleanups which were no problem. So if the vis isn't crap, you might be able to give it a shot. How big is this pond?

 

[spectrum]

We participate in a "splash for trash" up here. Swimming arroud with a catch bag collecting trash, cans, bottles, and items of that scale is one thing. Lifting appliances and going into salvage mode is quite another deal. I would be careful not to go beyond your level of salvage training.

Your topside help will be what makes or breaks it for you. Our event is based around a dock so we don't need to have boats operating. If you are working to a boat have a definite plan that it will remain off and at anchor unless the skipper is able to follow your bubbles and you are comfortable working around a boat under power. planning here is critical.

Biasing your trim to be just a bit head heavy may make it easier to work above a silty bottom while not destroying visibility. I did this for some milfoil dives and it helped a lot.

If you have any invasive aquatic plants in there don't be breaking them up as that will hasten the propogation.

Pete

 

[erparamedic]

Oh, shoot... I forgot to put in the initial post... the appliances stay!! We aren't gonna bring any of those up!!! We're not crazy! We're only looking to bring up what we can do safely and well within our abilities. Sorry.... I didn't communicate that well in the first post. The pond is small... probably, (I'm horrible at sizing) 50 yards by 35 or 40 yards. I'm guessing the viz is prolly pretty bad, but, we're used to no/low viz.

 

[erparamedic]

Oh, and nobody draws their water from the pond... we all have city water around here.

 

[Guba]

Careful on the biological front, too.
What is the water temperature and how stagnant is it? What I'm asking is "how fresh is the water?" If there is enough turn-over from the springs, then the water is most likely fresh enough to dive safely. If not, there is a significant risk of amoebic organism presence. That's not good. Nasty infections (such as meningitis) are possible, particularly as you get close to shallow bottoms with lots of plant and algal growth. Also, any skin openings (cuts, scrapes, etc...) pose significant risk of infection. Where you are, the water temps may be low enough to discourage amoebic growth. Around my neck of the woods, shallow water temps in ponds, etc, increase the water temp significantly and make it risky to even attempt diving in them.
So like the first poster said..."be very very careful".

 

[erparamedic]

Ah... Guba, you bring up a good point... one that I hadn't thought of. See... I love SB! You can see some algea around the edges (no more that local, divable quarries)... but doesn't appear (yes I know appearances can be deceiving) stagnant... so to speak. Definitely NOT the gross "green topped" pond. Just small little patches here or there on the edges. There are tons of fish in there, and big turtles (12" or so across). Hmmm... I wonder if the health department would test the water... I think a call is in order.

 

[cummings66]

I've got to say one thing, I think you're over estimating the vis in the pond. The ones I've been in have had inches for vis, forget about 1 foot and think instead about 1 inch of vis. You probably won't see squat until you hit it.

But that's here in MO, maybe your ponds are nicer than ours...

 

[Gary D.]

We have a 400 acre lake right on the edge of town that is used for all water activities year around. BUT when we get into the bottom we get sick 8 out of 10 dives.

Here is a sat pic of it. The one in the middle.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=14&Z=11&X=162&Y=1649&W=1

Gary D.