Draining a lake with syphon pipes

[acem]

We are draining a lake to clear the drainage control structure. Not sure what's wrong, the control structure is completely underwater. It's had the road closed for months.

3 syphon pipes 6 inch. Probably take two months to drain down to where we can work on it...

It's a flood control dam for a watershed improvement district. I have the pleasure of being chairman of the board. Volunteer board, unpaid.

[MacAR]

Just curious, how did you start the siphon?

Mac

[TN Hillbilly]

suck REALLY REALLY hard.

[naedlaen]

Do you have beaver in the area?  They tend to be the nuisance here with pond with outlet pipes.  Would nutria (South American muskrat like rodent) plug the inlet to the outlet?  

Either way, find the inlet, mark it and use a track hoe to remove the plug.  DO NOT do this manually. IT WILL SUCK you in when it clears and then you are the plug and will likely drown.  

I have seen a pipe cleaned with a track hoe and when it let loose the pipe was flowing at full flow immediately.  

Neal

[acem]

25 minutes ago, MacAR said:

Just curious, how did you start the siphon?

Mac

Notice the butterfly valves toward the bottom of each side.  We shut them.  Then pump water into the open valve at the top.  When it's full we shut the top valve.  One person on each butterfly valve opens them coordinated by the person on top.

[MacAR]

Ah, that makes perfect sense! Just couldn't visualize it at first. Thanks!

Mac

[acem]

Yes we have beaver but I don't see any sign  of them here.  Probably some mechanical problem but I'm not sure.  It has a control structure that is out in the lake with a platform on top but it's completely submerged...

Once we get the water down we can figure it out...

 

[acem]

I found this pic on the net.  Ours is similar but the lake is much smaller.

Six mile creek is not actually a PL 566 project.  It was part of a pilot program before the PL566 project.

[acem]

The water has been up over the road since November.  We have been waiting for the siphon kit to be available.  We borrow it from the state.

It was hard work putting those pipe together.  The dam is very steep.

[mader656]

49 minutes ago, TN Hillbilly said:

suck REALLY REALLY hard.

So use a john deere to start it!🤣😂😂

[naedlaen]

@acem,

Funny you should mention the pilot program and PL566.  I worked as an engineer for USDA SCS/NRCS for 36 years.  The first four years involved PL566 and a stint rehabbing a pilot program watershed that used concrete for the outlet and CMP for most of the rest.  1955 technology for joining the two was less than spectacular and at 25 years old started to leak and erode the fill.  The dam that I saw cleared was a smaller PL566 structure with a concrete pressure pipe (improved technology over the pilot watershed structures.)

The lower structure looks to be the box inlet/draw down.  I cannot tell much about the taller structure.  Perhaps it is for water supply, so would need to be tall enough to keep surface debris out of that system.  

Thank you for your service on the local board (Soil and Water Conservation District or other?).

Neal

[acem]

7 minutes ago, naedlaen said:

@acem,

Funny you should mention the pilot program and PL566.  I worked as an engineer for USDA SCS/NRCS for 36 years.  The first four years involved PL566 and a stint rehabbing a pilot program watershed that used concrete for the outlet and CMP for most of the rest.  1955 technology for joining the two was less than spectacular and at 25 years old started to leak and erode the fill.  The dam that I saw cleared was a smaller PL566 structure with a concrete pressure pipe (improved technology over the pilot watershed structures.)

The lower structure looks to be the box inlet/draw down.  I cannot tell much about the taller structure.  Perhaps it is for water supply, so would need to be tall enough to keep surface debris out of that system.  

Thank you for your service on the local board (Soil and Water Conservation District or other?).

Neal

Small world.

What's CMP?

The pic is not our dam.  It's just something kinda similar I found on the net.  I don't remember exactly what this structure actually looks like.

I'm on our Conservation District board and the Watershed Improvement board as well.  Somehow got to be chairman of both.  

Should be Chairman of the Board of something with good pay and benefits...

[New Englander]

Wow! Makes my fight with beavers plugging culverts look like a minor inconvenience. Good work volunteering your time for that. It'll be interesting to see what plugged the pipe; keep us posted when it finally drains enough.

[Ihfan4life]

Had a neighbor who approached someone else to ask if it would be ok to plant willow, and other trees on my property. We have an active beaver po d that has encroached on one of my fields to the point the town contracted with someone to place beaver baffles so they wouldn’t plug the road culvert…

After hearing the request I simply asked if she was stupid…request denied 

[Tobaccoman]

CMP=Corrugated Metal Pipe

[acem]

16 minutes ago, Tobaccoman said:

CMP=Corrugated Metal Pipe

Ok. I see.

Some of our lakes had those. They were replaced decades ago before I was on the board. I met the SCS engineer (retired) who was over putting them in.

[int 504]

2 hours ago, Ihfan4life said:

Had a neighbor who approached someone else to ask if it would be ok to plant willow, and other trees on my property. We have an active beaver po d that has encroached on one of my fields to the point the town contracted with someone to place beaver baffles so they wouldn’t plug the road culvert…

After hearing the request I simply asked if she was stupid…request denied 

They call those beaver deceiver in Maine...