I am currently renovating a 1/2 acre pond. Over the last three years a nearby creek decided to enter the spillway, fill up the tank and break the dam. It was poor construction and planning initially but the pond was there when I bought the ranch.
Currently the creek has been moved 35 foot away from the dam. THe dam is being reinforced. The tank is being dug out and expanded to cover about an acre. With the creek not running into the tank I believe I can handle overflow with a stand pipe and have an emergency spillway lined with rocks. I also am planning on putting a drain pipe in the bottom with a valve.
My problem is with the stand pipe. Material and cost. 12" PVC is reasonable by the foot but a 90 degree elbow was almost $600. Given the cost of expanding my pond and fixing the problems that already existed I would like to keep my cost down on the stand pipe. Is there anything that is economical and long lasting that I can use?

Hello Turtle95 and welcome to Pond Boss. Hang on for some expert opinions.

Additional information that might be helpful:

I calculated the proposed pond size to be 1 acre.
My watershed is minumum 5 acres and max 7 acres. (Some areas it is difficult to tell if the water will go to the tank or to the creek.)
If I can get away with 6" PVC that would be nice, but that seems too small to me. Even if I have to do two 6" PVC stand pipes it will be cheaper that doing one 12" due to 90 degree elbow price.
Thoughts?

In rough terms, you'd need four 6" pipes to equal the water moving capacity of one 12" pipe.

Scott that statement made no sense to me. So you forced me to Google water flow and pipe size.

Then BAM the next thing you know I'm reading about "viscous friction" (which sounds much naughtier than it actually is) and the "Reynolds Number" and so I continue to read on about the thrilling and yet satisfying "Darcy-Weisback Equation" and the poetic and yes almost sad meanderings of the "Hazen Willams Equation."

After reading the article over and over I finally made a judgment call.....

....to hell with it, I'm just gonna take your word for it.

Contact Keith at Pond Dam Piping.....He's the best!

JHAP, you're better with numbers than I am. Run pie R squared on a 12" pipe and on a 6" pipe and look at the numbers to see how they compare. I didn't bother with laminar flow, etc.