Good morning! Update on where we are..........Had a local pond builder, with lots of nice ponds to his credit, come do a walk-around. He was emphatic about how nice and well built our pond is, and states to not get excited but rather just observe for a while. See if the siphon system is working before assuming it is clogged. He says this because:
1. The dam is about 4" higher than the water level, and is in no danger of eroding away. He did say I might want to increase height of the backup spillway about a foot to make sure the siphon gets activated before it can run over
2. I have put in place a silt fence to prevent erosion in the current place. Also put in a 6" pipe should water get by, and even stapled it to the bare dirt. Beyond that, the water will travel down a fairly level grass roadbed where it should level out and make a gentler path to the creek below. Pipe is 100', and runs all the way to the creek.
3) Pond appears very healthy and capable of making it through an occasional overflow with measures I have in place.
He believes the old rusty gate valve was likely an original drain system that may be lead to the 4" pipe in the valve box in first set of pics. Likely capped off and turned into a hose bib, along with a later addition of the siphon drain system. No apparent cleanout access port on top of the dam, which is a bummer. But, he says I can hook my 2" water pump to the siphon vent port, while capping the outfall, to try to blow out any potential clog if I choose to. He says there is no potential to damage any piping.
Overall, a very health report, from a very nice local construction expert.
Thank you all!
David in SC
