In Washington I am required to have a 1/4 inch screen on my outlet to prevent larger bluegill and bass from entering the river system nearby. I've also been concerned with the fact that debris will quickly clog the screen. I've been toying with two ideas to combat this problem.

1. Use a multi screen approach. Like above, but start with a 2 inch mesh wire fence to catch bigger debris and then follow it up with my 1/4 inch mesh. before the water enters an 18 inch culvert.

2. Use a pvc Y to lower the intake a couple feet or so below the bottom level of the culvert. This will prevent most of the clogging due to the fact that the debris is usually near the surface. Then I will build a sort of cage around the intake to maximize surface area for intake if some clogging does occur.

Any comments or suggestions?

Just got another idea. What about using a brushpile as a sort of debris blocker in front of the outflow pipe?