Excavation and removal of built-up sediment to restore a detention pond's designed storage, drainage performance and access.
Most calls we get about detention pond sediment removal in Spicewood come from a property manager or HOA board member who just watched a basin fail to drain the way it used to after a storm. By the time they call, the forebay has usually silted in, the outlet is half buried, and what was designed as flood storage has turned into a shallow mud pool that stays wet for days.
Spicewood sits on rugged granite and limestone terrain, and that ground shows up in the basin fast. Runoff carries coarse grit and rock fines rather than fine clay, so sediment tends to stack up hard near the inlet and forebay instead of spreading evenly. Add in the area's short, intense rainfall bursts off the hills around Barton Creek Lakeside, Spicewood Trails, and Briarcliff, and a pond can fill faster than its maintenance schedule assumes. Bare slopes erode, volunteer cedar and oak take root on embankments nobody has mowed in a season, and outlet structures clog with gravel and brush debris.
Working with Corral Bros on this scope starts with a site walk where we check sediment depth and look at access, since a lot of these basins sit on acreage with limited equipment paths. We excavate and remove the built-up material, restore the design grade, clean out the forebay and outlet, and haul everything offsite for disposal. Whether you are an HOA board closing out a developer handoff or a property manager keeping a retail site's drainage working, you get a basin that performs the way it was designed to again.
We're a local, family-built company that treats your Spicewood property like our own, tidy crews, clear pricing, and detention pond sediment removal that holds up to Burnet 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 you or your engineer. We check sediment depth at the forebay and main pool, look at the outlet structure, and get a sense of embankment access for equipment given the granite and limestone grades common around Spicewood Trails and Barton Creek Lakeside. You get a straightforward scope before any work starts.
It depends on the watershed above it and how much bare soil or disturbed ground drains into the basin, but many Hill Country ponds here need attention somewhere between every few years and once a decade. A hard sign it is overdue is slow drawdown after a storm, standing water that used to drain, or a forebay that has gone from a pool to a mudflat.
On retail and apartment sites we stage equipment away from active parking and entrances, and coordinate timing with the property manager so trash pickup, deliveries, and resident traffic are not blocked. On ranch and lake properties in Briarcliff or Spicewood Trails, access is usually more about getting equipment down a steep gravel drive than working around people, and we scout that during the site walk.
Thin caliche soil over granite and limestone means a lot of the sediment that reaches a basin is coarse grit and rock fines rather than fine silt, which changes how it excavates and hauls. Hill Country storms also tend to come in short, hard bursts, so a pond here can fill faster than you expect, and an untouched slope can grow volunteer cedar or oak that we have to clear before we can grade it back.
The main factors are how much sediment has to come out, how far equipment has to haul it to a disposal point, and how hard it is to get machinery to the basin, which matters a lot on steep Hill Country acreage. Outlet and forebay condition, any tree or brush clearing needed on the embankment, and whether the work has to happen around an active tenant site also factor in.
Free, no-pressure estimate from a local crew. Call (737) 404-9343 or request a quote online.
