Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Raise Height Of Dam - Can I Use Existing Siphon?

Help needed! I am planning on adding about 2-3 feet of height to my dam in order to raise the water level up. I currently have a 12" pvc siphon system that works great. Any ideas on how to use it without digging the whole thing up? My idea is to simply extend the length of the pipe that is buried on the slope upward a foot or 2 and then come back across the dam at the new height and then down into the pond. This only causes me to buy a few elbows as I should be able to mostly reuse the existing pipe. Does anybody think that my idea will not work - or have a better one? One other thought I had was to forget about the siphon and just cut the end off that is going down into the pond and turning a 90 degree elbow up at the cut end and adding a short length of pvc on it to get to the new water level. I could then put a trash rack on top of it and be done. That would be fast and easy - but maybe not best. Thanks!

I'm no expert but sounds like you are on the right track. You would obviously need to cap the old tube going through the dam at the existing level then put the new section in at the higher level. Reconnect the pipes on both down slopes.


If you do decide to get rid of the bottom draw you could also just install a gate type water level control structure. Different posters have shown pictures of them before. Then you would actually have the option of varying the water depth as desired in the pond.

I have installed elbows on three of my ponds to increase depth but only by 6", 8" and 12". Going to do it to my redear pond if I get around to it this summer. I encased two of the elbows in concrete but that is not necessarily needed.

Thanks John!