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[MetalGear]

My latest embark is in a temperate region and so I need to somehow save my water pools from freezing. Would it be sufficient to just dig an underground room and drain the water there, or do I have to make a reservoir with constructed walls and floors and stuff? On a related note, is it possible to dig upwards? I want to have my reservoir one level below the pool and I need some way to punch through the roof.

[AngleWyrm]

I dug a trench from a river into the side of a mountain, where I dug out an area to be a pond. The water that filled the canal and pond inside the mountain never froze, even though the river froze.

[NecroRebel]

As long as the cistern isn't so large that it doesn't fill to at least 2/7 depth, you just need to have water underground to protect it from the freezing temperatures above ground.

There's 2 ways to dig upwards. First is to use the ramp designation on an unmined wall. This turns the wall itself into an up ramp and removes the floor above, and any walls above that might be present. Second is to dig or build an up stair, then dig a channel or down stair on the level above to remove the floor there.

Note that just punching through the floor in the middle of a murky pool has 2 disadvantages, albeit minor ones. First, the tile(s) directly beneath the hole will be above ground, causing a pillar of ice to form inside your cistern every winter. If you design your plumbing wrong it might accidentally seal off your pipes from your cistern (unlikely). Second, you then remove one tile of the murky pool, so there is one fewer tiles to collect raindrops, so you'll get slightly less water from rainfall. Both issues are avoided if, instead of mining up into the middle of the pool, you mine up into the side of the pool.

[Burnt Pies]

So long as you're not in a saltwater area, i.e. not right next to an ocean, rough walls and floors should be fine.

Also, mine out the reservoir and a tunnel leading to the side of your murky pool, then channel out the last wall between them. Much safer, less loss of picks/dwarves.

[Girlinhat]

You may want to wait until your water is frozen before digging, so that you ca install a flood gate while still dry, and be able to tamper with water flow.

[noob]

You may want to wait until your water is frozen before digging, so that you ca install a flood gate while still dry, and be able to tamper with water flow.

Or do what I do, dig the area right up to, but not breaching, the water source. Install floodgate, link it to a lever, pull lever, dig the last bit of material between water and reservoir, have him run out of there, and you have a reservoir.

or do what i do, channel out the area connecting to the river instead mining it to avoid risking a pick. (dwarfs are expendable)