City and county workers uncovered something at Hoopes Park they haven't seen in years - the bottom of the pond.

They drained the water Tuesday and began hauling nearly a decade's worth of weeds and muck out of it Wednesday.

Auburn's Superintendent of Public Works Jerry DelFavero described the bottom after they drained the water as a swampy mess.

The department struggled to keep the pond clean this summer from weeds and algae. The park's pond is one of several bodies of water in Cayuga County affected by an overgrowth of weeds because of nutrient runoff.

“One side of the pond had only eight inches of water,” DelFavero said. After the manicure, the water will stand 4 feet or 4 feet, 5 inches, he added.

City workers usually clean the pond every 10 to 12 years, but they pushed up the excavation because of the weed problem. DelFavero said crews last tackled cleaning the entire pond eight or nine years ago.

The Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District assisted with the excavation, with city-owned dump trucks hauling the removed sludge. A load dislodged off one truck as it was leaving the site and the city had to shut East Genesee Street to traffic briefly as crews cleaned the street Wednesday afternoon.

While most of the region's population has avoided remaining outside for more than a few minutes, the park and recreation workers were waiting for temperatures that hovered around zero.

The crews needed the cold weather to help the seaweed and muck stand up and help them remove the then semi-solid material from the bottom of the hard clay base.

DelFavero aims to refill the pond by early next week.

He is working with other city officials to exploring different options how to keep the situation from becoming that bad in the future.

Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311 ext 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net