Wastewater stabilization ponds have long been considered a sustainable treatment option for developing regions. Sludge buildup in primary ponds is also a sustainability issue since ponds must be desludged every 2-15 years depending on their design and solids loading. Pond systems in developing regions are often designed without a desludging plan and operated without the amortized desludging cost included in the operation and maintenance budget. This paper presents a method where sludge drying within a pond is effected by rooted plants; after drying, the sludge is removed with a mid-sized excavator. The method was tested in the desludging of a primary pond in Tela, Honduras, where sludge 4 m deep was dried to a solid (TS ≈ 18%) to a depth >1 m using the wetland plant Ludwigia octovalvis. The data suggest that both evapotranspiration and drainage through the root system contributed to dewatering. The total cost in 2011 US dollars was $13,716 or $4.47 m 3 removed, which was paid from the municipality's general fund without external aid. The method presented is sustainable, and serves as a model for desludging operations where excessive sludge accumulation has occurreda likely scenario in many primary ponds in developing regions. Key words | desludging stabilization ponds, sludge drying, sludge removal, sustainable sludge management, wastewater stabilization ponds Mara ; Shilton ; Arceivala & Asolekar ; US EPA ). Unfortunately, numerous pond systems in developing regions, most of which were constructed with international aid, operate without a desludging plan, without the amortized desludging cost included in the operation and maintenance budget, and without knowledge of how to proceed with desludging when it becomes necessary. Many of these ponds, such as those in Central America, have operated for years and have sludge accumulation depths >1 m that will be difficult and costly to desludge (Oakley et al. ;Oakley & Salguero ). If pond systems are to be sustainable in the long-term, it is imperative that simple desludging methods be developed and fully integrated into their design and operation.