The Chinese recently removed the dirt overburden from the largest dam site on earth, the Three Gorges Dam. They simply pumped water to the top of the hill, then ditched it to the dirt and picked the mud up at the bottom of the hill in buckets. They didn’t use heavy equipment until the dirt was all gone.

I would suggest that the easy way to clean, and keep clean, Mirror Pond is to drop a few Jersey barriers onto the edge of the main Deschutes River flow, angled to divert a bit of the channel velocity to the quiet perimeter areas. Jersey barriers are those portable concrete curbs, about 4 feet tall, that are used to separate traffic on freeways, etc. It might be necessary to make a few oversized ones, depending on water depth. They would have to be moved from time to time to redirect water to keep the whole pond scrubbed out, but the water will do the work, and there is plenty of local lifting capacity to install/adjust the barriers when needed.

There would be very little money involved, just the cost of the barriers, which might be available for nothing, and a few hours of crane time. No fish would be harmed. No water would get dirty except for the mud that’s already there. No swimmers, waders or boaters need be inconvenienced. The barriers might even make good “hides” for fish.

Ron Strobel

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