Your right about the amount of water I'll be getting in a heavy rain. It will be substantial!!!
My plan was to have a spillway 20 feet wide and 2 feet tall planted in either bermuda, or st. augustine sod. If this erodes on me, then I'll concrete a lip and spillway to get it away from the dam and into the creek.
I'm thinking the drain will be a six inch PVC that will suck from the bottom at the deepest end. At this location, I'm hoping it will also take the surrounding silt out with the water.
The drain will have an upright pipe at the outside of the dam that will end at the height of where I want the water to be, but lower than the emergancy spillway. I'm thinking about a foot difference below the spillway.
That means I'll have five acre feet to drain through this pipe. With that much water, it should be a gradual process,but it should also pull quite a bit of silt with it.
The thing I'm likeing about the drain system going staight through over teh siphon system is the ease of lowereing the water level when I want. With the siphon, it apears to be a bit of a process, especially if it's cold and wet out. With a good quality brass gate valve, I can easily handle the preasure and know it will work every time.
The big disadvantage to the drain pipe going through the dam from what i understand is water leaking along the pipe. If I put in four anti-seep collars as pairs, and pour concrete between each pair, I'm hopeful that it wont leak.
How bad is my thinking?? LOL Nothing is in stone yet, just what I've picked up on this site, and hopefully put together into a workable plan.
Thanks for the help and suggestions.
Eddie
