Reworking Pond Drain/Overflow?

Caver Dave

Caver Dave

Just holdin' it down here in BFV
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Mar 10, 2005
Location
Hooterville (24171)
So, I have a small (15' wide x 50'-ish long) spring pond up the hill from the house. It's got a single 4" black corrugated drain that sits horizontally, that runs about 20gpm 24/7 unless it's pouring...

It does pretty good most of the time, but highly prone to clogging from leaves (both floating & waterlogged) and when it does clog, the spill over is eroding the dam... IMHO, it's sits too high and is lets the level get too high. Rather than continue cleaning (in vain) every few days or risk it washing out the dam, I'd like to modify a bit.

My short-term thoughts are, extend the corrugated further into the pond and turn it up vertically (using a engineer stake) and use a taller chunk of 6" PVC over that with random holes in the *middle* to allow the water inside, but keep the leaves (floaters/sinkers) outside.

Any cons against going this route temporarily?

Longer term plan (read: Spring = warmer, hopefully not as hectic as the past few months) will be to replace it all with 6" PVC... potentially spinning a small alternator to charge a small battery to power a few strings of LED's lighting the path top said pond/fire pit area...
 
You can use a "stand pipe". Basically bury a large pipe (enough to carry the full capacity when pouring for days) with an elbow and a section of pipe ending at desired level. You could do it on an angle either. That's how some of the larger ponds are done here. That or it's below the surface with a gate valve to regulate level, but that requires changing the valve with incoming water, whereas the stand pipe at desired level does not. (Though sizing the pipe is critical to prevent overflow in case of atypical rains). Just my $.02 from what I've seen. That or you could do a spillway/weir, and that would let you collect the water for use as power source if you funnel it after the spill. That also prevents erosion and has no real maximum capacity.
 
I would skip the 6" and put in an 8". Even less chance for leaves to clog and will let through a shat ton more water during heavy rainfall.
 
I’m with @a_kelly in the spring build a stand pipe but I’d use 10”+ for the size of pond. You’ll have to drain the pond and redo the damn to make it work correctly but it would be worth the effort in the long run to never worry about it again


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If you replaced the 4" with a larger pipe (or leave the 4") all you have to do is put a tee vertical on the pond side and now you have a stand pipe. Way less work than redoing the dam with the same result
 
Put a Tee on the existing pipe and install a skimmer or trash rack around the inlet.

AND build a dedicated emergency spillway. Basically notch the top of the dam to give the water someplace to go if the pipe cloggs up. Be sure to put a good heavy non-woven geotextile fabric down and then put some class B rip rap. Size of spillway depends on the volume.

I’ve seen and repaired plenty of earthen dams that blew out due to no spillway and erosion finally taking the dam out. It’s a freakin mess.
 
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No experience here, but I'd say the larger, smooth bore pipe, would be more self cleaning. Skimmer/trash rack, as "rock city says, sounds good, but wouldn't you occasionally have to clean those?
 
rodney eppes said:
No experience here, but I'd say the larger, smooth bore pipe, would be more self cleaning. Skimmer/trash rack, as "rock city says, sounds good, but wouldn't you occasionally have to clean those?
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If designed correctly, it shouldn’t need to be cleaned except maybe once a year, if that.


Or look for a Faircloth Skimmer with a GPH that works for you and be done. Because you aren’t trying to control the GPM for sediment to fall out of the water, you can completely remove the orfice plate for max flow for storms. If you tie a rope to the skimmer, if anything cloggs the skimmer, it’s easy to shake loose.
 
Would this even work? Using the stand pipe, place an elbow on top with an extension going back under the water level, so as to not collect leaves & trash. I suppose you'd need a tiny vent hole, so it doesn't create a suction. But have the elbow at the height you want to start draining the overfill. Or would this be a new Muskrat house?:lol:
 
rodney eppes said:
Would this even work? Using the stand pipe, place an elbow on top with an extension going back under the water level, so as to not collect leaves & trash. I suppose you'd need a tiny vent hole, so it doesn't create a suction. But have the elbow at the height you want to start draining the overfill. Or would this be a new Muskrat house?:lol:
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That should work, but I would generously size the "little" vent hole at 1" or bigger.. if the siphon were to start, a 1/4" hole may not be large enough to break the siphon, but I'm not sure on that. Be better to be safer than drain it down to the lower end of the drain pipe..
 
a_kelley said:
That should work, but I would generously size the "little" vent hole at 1" or bigger.. if the siphon were to start, a 1/4" hole may not be large enough to break the siphon, but I'm not sure on that. Be better to be safer than drain it down to the lower end of the drain pipe..
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Glad you could Spell "siphon"! I Wanted to use that word, but the spelling wouldn't come to me. Word correct didn't help, goggle didn't help, so I got out my dictionary. Haha, dictionary's are only good if you can spell the first half the word!
 
a_kelley said:
That should work, but I would generously size the "little" vent hole at 1" or bigger.. if the siphon were to start, a 1/4" hole may not be large enough to break the siphon, but I'm not sure on that. Be better to be safer than drain it down to the lower end of the drain pipe..
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one could just perforate the whole pipe after it comes above desired water level.
 
Need one of these.
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Skimmer is just temporary until pond construction is done
 
No idea what any of it is. Walked down to check it out at lunch today. I helped the graders pour the concrete around it a couple days ago. There are 5 yards around the bottom of that thing. The whole pond seems way over kill to me.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
No idea what any of it is. Walked down to check it out at lunch today. I helped the graders pour the concrete around it a couple days ago. There are 5 yards around the bottom of that thing. The whole pond seems way over kill to me.
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Where is it located?

The pond is sized based on acreage of stormwater it will receive and whether it was based on a 20yr storm, 50yr, 100yr, etc. There are probabally 3 jute baffles across the pond to help control sediment before the turbid water reaches the skimmer. The standpipe with trash rack acts as the overflow until made permanent. All of this is covered under an engineered design and E&SC permit.
 
My group generally call them Retention Ponds. Controls runoff & sediment from construction projects. Some are temporary, & other are permanent. Even the permanent ones, have to get cleaned out, depending on how much sediment builds up. Been there, done that!
 
rockcity said:
Where is it located?

The pond is sized based on acreage of stormwater it will receive and whether it was based on a 20yr storm, 50yr, 100yr, etc. There are probabally 3 jute baffles across the pond to help control sediment before the turbid water reaches the skimmer. The standpipe with trash rack acts as the overflow until made permanent. All of this is covered under an engineered design and E&SC permit.
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High point. Had to build it (or agree to build it) before we could get building permits. Its an upfit on an existing building but they got caught adding gravel to the site and the city went overboard.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
High point. Had to build it (or agree to build it) before we could get building permits. Its an upfit on an existing building but they got caught adding gravel to the site and the city went overboard.
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I hope the owner obtained a state permit because the state issues those sediment basin permits above and beyond building permits by the city. :)
 
No idea. My brother in law has helped handle all that mess. I know it took 7 months and a lot of surveying to get the final approval.
 
Years ago used a black plastic 55 gallon drum on one for a intake on pond side. Cut top out of barrel fabbed a grate for top of it and built up under barrel to set top of barrel at desired pond level. Cut hole in side for 4” pipe to go threw that goes threw dam and fill bottom of barrel with concrete up to exit pipe to keep barrel from trying to float and seal around exit pipe. Been like that for going on 15 or 20 years and only cleaned the grate maybe twice over that time period.
 
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