I'm a first time poster here.....so, be gentle ! I'm reconstructing an old pond that was poorly built, with not much forethought or design. Surface area will be approximately 3/4 acrea when finished. Maximum depth will be about 14 feet, in front of the dam. Because of topography, I cannot utilize a siphon system (not enough elevation differential below dam at outflow) so, I suppose I'll have to use a through-dam pipe. Is there any reason that I cannot/should not install the intake pipe and strainer in the 14' water, run the horizontal pipe through the dam and then install the "riser" below the dam? The pool level would then be determined by the height of that riser. Am I missing something, or could this be made to work ? Emergency overflow would be constructed approximately 2 feet above the elevation of the riser. Any help with other ideas or solutions is certainly encouraged. Thanks

It's better not to have the thru-dam pipe filled with water all the time. Any small leak in the pipe will create problems with the dam. It's better (and more commom) to have the riser on the pond side of the dam, and when the water drops below the top of the riser, the pipe stays dry inside.

Make sure you compact the soil properly around the pipe, and put in a couple of anti-seep collars.

Thanks for the reply, essup. My reasoning is really two-fold....cutting down on material and construction costs while still being able to remove the deepest (poorest) water first. I should have only one pipe joint inside the dam, and plan to use two anti-seep collars. I have no objections to the riser pipe being on the intake side, except for construction costs to facilitate removing the deepest water. Are there simpler methods of accomplishing that ?