Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations We had a blow out

I found this after the last rain event. Our spillway pipe split and caused some serious damage to the center of our dam. Not a pretty sight. Going to be tricky to fix with the pond full and still running out.

Ugh ! Rocky can you describe what we are looking at ? Having a hard time seeing what happened. Did the pipe split ? What about the riser ?

Put some heavy plastic over the split, fill with wet concrete back fill with dirt.. See if that works before doing anything drastic.. Also dig out around the crack real good to really encase the split with the concrete

Ouch! I wonder if there is a burst strength rating on that corregated plastic pipe? Now far down below the water level was the pipe?

I agree, it'll be a hard fix with the high water. If draining down isn't an option, can you get any equipment in there to drive down interlocking steel like they use for a seawall, effect the repairs, then pull the pieces back out? I see them doing this on a dam that holds back a local 365 acre lake. They are building a new concrete bridge and can't work in water.

This is a newbie question, by why cant you block the spillway pickup or extend it so that it is higher than the water level? Or is the hole closest to the pond, to close and if you dig there it is collapse?

Burst strength? A ton of really turbulant flow, but little pressure.

Sorry to see that Rocky!!

NCMike, good question. However, if the overflow level is raised or blocked, another big rain event could cause the whole dam to wash out due to overflow.

However, that may have to be done while the damage is being repaired. Rocky might have to pump it down to get the water level down while repairs are being made.

To me, lacking pressure, it looks like the weight of the wet soil crushed the pipe.

The pipe split next to the water near the drop box and then blew a hole upward to the center of the dam. Either to much head pressure or perhaps the paddle wheel scrapper or dozer may have ran over that area of the pipe in last years reinovation and colapsed the pipe weakening it. There is not much soil depth over that section of the pipe. It has been in use for 14 years. Really not sure what has happened, but as stated above I have plugged the concrete drop box to prevent the dam from being blown completely out if we get another gully washer. I am going to replace all of the pipe and tie it in as close to the drop box as I can. I have drained off about 6 inches of water thus far. Contractor is starting as we speak hope to get it cut and closed up before the rain which is forcast in the next few days.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

It's a shame to have a drought, finally get the pond full, then have to let the water back out to do repairs.

I had a pipe like that collapse on me when we were renovating the pond. It was under about 12" of soil, and the single axle dump truck had enough weight to smash it with repeated trips over it.

I hope you can get it fixed before the next storm.

If you are going to use that same pipe, can you slip it thru a slightly larger steel pipe just to protect it from crushing in the future?

Definately good luck! Scary to think how vulnerable ponds are to seemingly small events.

To me this seems like a warning of what pipe types NOT to use. Perhaps a solid PVC material or galvanized metal pipe, while more expensive, may be a longer-term solution.

IIRC, the Galvanized is only good for 20 years. I think Concrete lasts the longest, Not enough time on PVC to know for sure.

We use pipe and have good luck with them. No rusting through or other problems.