Have a place just east of Lone Oak/Greenville in Hopkins County. Have 3 ponds that drain one into the next. All 3 used to be clear water (tea colored east tx clear) since mid 90s until about 2011 when I had the middle one dug to 30 feet deep. It's been chocolate milk ever since. I assume all three were line w clay and we obliterated the clay liner, and the remedy is to drain, line w fat clay, and fill. But before I do it I need a lake Mgmt consultant thoroughly familiar w pond clarity issues in the area of my place. Any recommendations?

Pond in question is about 100 yd diameter
Thx

Long range. I am WFS from TAMU a lot of years ago. I do not consider myself an expert, not even a little bit. We had the exact same issue on our 4 acre lake on some property in MO.
I pulled out some old notes and book I had from class in Limnology.
I was really baffled of what to do and I read to take 5 quart glass jars and fill each with a sample from the lake. Then it said to set them in a dark cool place for a couple of weeks to see if the clay particles settled out.
If they did not clear up it meant the clay molecules had attached themselves to the water molecules or some such and could not settle out because of that.
In my case the samples would not clear up and stayed muddy. It then said to add a small amount of gypsum and shake the jars and then see if it would settle out. In my case it did. Something about the gypsum bounding to the clay molecules allowing it to settle.
I then talked with a MO fisheries biologist who also confirmed my results. I then bought gypsum and distributed it in our lake. In about 4 weeks it went back to the green color.
Then we found that clay was washing in heavy rains from a field that had been cleared.
I covered that drainage part of the lake bank side with rip rap rock to filter the run off and it has been ok ever since.
Maybe this might help you I hope.
The gypsum was easy to get. For my test jars I just put some gypsum from Sheetrock in them and it worked.
Can't tell you how much we put in the lake as the fisheries biologist handled it.

Lochow ranch lake management would be able to help you. Aggie owned and operated based out of Bryan but have a crew that works out of Tyler. They cover NE Texas and have been working with my lake in Hopkins county. Very professional and knowledgeable

Gunny456 said:

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Long range. I am WFS from TAMU a lot of years ago. I do not consider myself an expert, not even a little bit. We had the exact same issue on our 4 acre lake on some property in MO.
I pulled out some old notes and book I had from class in Limnology.
I was really baffled of what to do and I read to take 5 quart glass jars and fill each with a sample from the lake. Then it said to set them in a dark cool place for a couple of weeks to see if the clay particles settled out.
If they did not clear up it meant the clay molecules had attached themselves to the water molecules or some such and could not settle out because of that.
In my case the samples would not clear up and stayed muddy. It then said to add a small amount of gypsum and shake the jars and then see if it would settle out. In my case it did. Something about the gypsum bounding to the clay molecules allowing it to settle.
I then talked with a MO fisheries biologist who also confirmed my results. I then bought gypsum and distributed it in our lake. In about 4 weeks it went back to the green color.
Then we found that clay was washing in heavy rains from a field that had been cleared.
I covered that drainage part of the lake bank side with rip rap rock to filter the run off and it has been ok ever since.
Maybe this might help you I hope.
The gypsum was easy to get. For my test jars I just put some gypsum from Sheetrock in them and it worked.
Can't tell you how much we put in the lake as the fisheries biologist handled it.

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This is the same chemistry behind lime stabilization of clay soils. Science!