See pond 1 year later (74 seconds) • Video
This is the removal of the Sutton Place HOA (Garland Texas) pond dam on September 28, 2015.
For those wondering why the dam was removed. The Board for the HOA decided to have it removed and I am not on the board. But here is what I understand was the situation (may not be totally accurate).
The pond is essentially a settling pond for a large portion of the streets of northern Garland. It is feed by 2 storm-water culverts feeding in storm water from the west. Over the nearly 40 years of its life, it has silted up and is now so shallow, that it weed up and look terrible most of the year (spring thru fall). The large rain this spring actually washed a large amount of gravel and rocks (probably concrete) out of the storm-water sewers and into the headwaters of the pond nearly blocking the storm-water drains. And there was always a large amount of trash washed down the storm sewers and into the pond with every rain.
Dredging turned out to be to expensive to be funded by the HOA, when the sediment came back as contaminated. If removed, the sediment would have to be treated as toxic waste (lot of money). It is a drainage easement for the city, so attempts to block the flow would result in fines. For 10 years many efforts were made to get the city to pay for the cleanup and where never successful.
Recent attempt switched from cleanup to drainage to improve the looks and smell. After much work by the Board with the city, the city approved removal of the dam, letting the sediment dry, and the storm water drainage creating it own channels through the old sediment.
The HOA still had to pay for it. So the job went to the lowest bidder. The company hired chose the least expensive way for them to remove the concrete dam (which no one was sure how deep the concrete went).
-------Jan 2016-----
Note: Several comments have been left about letting contaminated soil go downstream. From my limited understanding, the contaminates where fairly low, scattered, and settled deep in the sediment. As you can see in the video, the dam released the water. Very little sediment was released. What little was release, was from the top. The concrete of the culvert is still in place holding back nearly all the sediment.
A sad but true fact, probably 95% of the surrounding urban area doesn't have their insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, leaking car fluids, and liter end up in ponds on private property. It all ended in Lake Ray Hubbard directly. The same place this pond drains into (about 5 miles down stream).
6 months later, grass & other vegetation have covered and secured most of the sediment. 2 narrow areas of drainage have formed, but due to the height of the culvert apron (acting as a sediment dam), the channels have very little dept and are very narrow.