My pond is fed by diverted creek water, flowing through a 6" PVC pipe. About half above grade and half slightly below. It has only a slight amount of fall, with a meandering route through a forest. I just repaired a broken section from a fallen tree. The inside of the broken section had a slight amount of mud, but not enough to suspect it could cause a restriction.
In years past, it could always could transport a full load of water, about 300 gpm. But, we have had four years of drought with little water. Now, when we finally have ample water, the flow is greatly reduced, but I don't know why. I have less than normal water going in and coming out the other end.
There is plenty of available water at the 6" PVC inlet. The inlet is submerged, and well screened to keep out debris.
With 1/4 mile of pipe and no cleanouts, I'm trying to figure out how to approach this problem. The only other factors are that about 100 feet from the inlet, I can hear "tinkling" water inside the pipe at a 45 degree coupling butted up to a tree. I don't "hear" water anywhere else. And I'm wondering if tree roots might have raised the pipe somewhere along the way causing uphill flow?
Any ideas about how to troubleshoot this?
