Excavation and removal of built-up sediment to restore a detention pond's designed storage, drainage performance and access.
Austin's detention ponds range from decades-old basins built when Mueller was still an airport to newer ones poured last year on a Circle C tech campus pad site, and the age of the system usually shows up before you ever see a sediment survey. Older ponds in established neighborhoods tend to have an outlet structure nobody has looked at in years. Newer ones from the last development wave often got skipped on maintenance during the handoff from builder to association.
The ground underneath drives a lot of what we find. East of MoPac, black gumbo clay washes into basins as a heavy, sticky silt that settles hard in the forebay and slows drawdown to a crawl after storms. West toward the Hill Country edge, thinner limestone soils mean less sediment volume but faster erosion on the slopes, more exposed caliche, and volunteer trees working their roots into embankments that have gone unmowed. Zilker-area ponds dealing with runoff off steep lots show both problems at once.
Working with us starts with a free on-site look at the basin, usually scheduled within 48 hours, where we check sediment depth, walk the outlet, and give you a straight read on what restoring design grade will take. We survey, excavate, clean out the forebay and outlet, regrade to the original design, and haul the material offsite. You get a property that drains the way it was designed to, without guesswork about what is sitting at the bottom.
We're a local, family-built company that treats your Austin property like our own, tidy crews, clear pricing, and detention pond sediment removal that holds up to Travis County conditions. Available as a one-time project or part of an ongoing plan.
We schedule a free on-site visit, usually within 48 hours of your call, and walk the basin with whoever manages the property, whether that is a board member, a community association manager, or a GC closing out a site. We check sediment depth at the forebay and main pool, look at the outlet structure, and note slope condition before giving you a number. No obligation to move forward after that visit.
It depends on the watershed and the ground upstream, but most ponds we see on the east side, sitting on gumbo clay, silt in faster than the limestone-fed basins west of MoPac. A rough guide is every three to seven years, though a pond that slows to drawdown crawl after a normal rain, or shows standing water days later, is telling you sooner rather than later.
Yes. On HOA and apartment sites we stage equipment away from resident parking and common walkways, and on retail or office properties we coordinate access and timing with the property manager so loading docks and customer parking stay open. Most pond access roads are built wide enough that we are not routing trucks through the main lot at all.
Basins built on black gumbo clay east of MoPac tend to hold a soft, sticky muck layer that packs into forebays and slows drawdown fast. West toward the limestone edge, sediment loads are usually lighter but slopes erode faster after heavy rain, and we see more volunteer trees and brush taking hold on embankments that have gone a few seasons without attention.
Volume of material is the biggest factor, driven by sediment depth and the pond's footprint, followed by access, since a basin tucked behind a dense Tarrytown lot costs more to reach than one with a clear service road in a Circle C development. Disposal hauling distance, outlet condition, and how overgrown the slopes have gotten also factor into the final number.
Free, no-pressure estimate from a local crew. Call (737) 404-9343 or request a quote online.
