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[Gizogin]

This is going to require some explanation.  I dug out a cistern for the hospital I'm going to build, but the top level of it won't fill properly.  It's three levels deep, and the bottom two layers are currently completely filled, but as soon as I let water in to fill the top layer, it seems to be disappearing completely in a few squares, so the cistern can't fill properly.

Spoiler: screenshots: (click to show/hide)

This is what it looked like after I allowed most of the water to dry after the last time I tried to fill it.  The four tiles that show 7/7 water on the next level down are where I have the buckets for my hospital on the level above.  They are also the tiles that cannot fill with water, for whatever reason.  They fill up to 1/7, then the water just vanishes.


I let the level dry completely, then opened the floodgate to fill the top of the cistern.


This was taken not too much later.  Notice that the four open tiles are still empty.


This is one in-game week later.  The water has been flowing in steadily this whole time.  Before that bend to remove pressure, the water is pumped up about six z-levels, so the flow rate is not an issue.  The four open tiles still won't fill.

I know it's not a problem with those specific tiles, because exactly the same thing was happening earlier, when that entire level was empty.  As soon as any water tried to collect on the top level of the cistern, it would just disappear.  I have no idea what's going on here.  Has this happened to anyone else?

I can put up the save, if anyone needs it.

[Lalandrathon]

Are those four open spaces by any chance aquifer layers? I believe when you pour water into an aquifer it disappears as it's being "poured into the water table" or something.

[Gizogin]

There is an aquifer on the map (I think; I haven't actually seen it yet), but I know that those tiles aren't aquifer tiles.

[Urist Da Vinci]

Aquifer drain seems likely.

[Gizogin]

It's almost certainly not aquifer drain.  The tiles in question are on the level just below the surface, and I haven't even seen the aquifer yet.


This is the next level of the cistern, directly under the one already shown.


This is the bottom layer.  The floor is completely constructed, and at no point does the water come into contact with the soil/sand/dirt/ground around it.

[Urist Da Vinci]

It's almost certainly not aquifer drain.  The tiles in question are on the level just below the surface, and I haven't even seen the aquifer yet.

What do the other z-levels of the cistern look like? Are those 4 holes made with stairs or channeling or something else?

[Gizogin]

Just edited my last post with screenshots of the other layers.  The holes were channeled out, as was the entire floor.  I then rebuilt it, leaving the four open tiles alone.

[Urist Da Vinci]

...

This is the next level of the cistern, directly under the one already shown.
...

What's the thing 1 tile northeast of the brown floodgate for?

Unrelated, are the hospital wells (and those 4 tiles) exposed to natural sunlight/the sky? What biome did you embark in? Is it hot outside?

[Corai]

...

This is the next level of the cistern, directly under the one already shown.
...

What's the thing 1 tile northeast of the brown floodgate for?

Unrelated, are the hospital wells (and those 4 tiles) exposed to natural sunlight/the sky? What biome did you embark in? Is it hot outside?

Thats a lever I think.

[Gizogin]

That's my drain, from when I needed to empty the cistern to dig out the bottom layer.

I'm on an island, with ocean on all sides.  I forget the temperature, but I know that one corner of my map freezes for about a month each winter.  I think I saw some other parts freeze for a split second once, but it might have been my imagination.  The cistern is exposed to the sky in those four tiles.

EDIT: Just uploading the save to DFFD.

The save.

EDIT: Actually, I think all the water on the map freezes for at least an instant, because the hatches I installed in my water tower were destroyed one winter.  Oddly though, it was the second winter after I installed them and filled the tower.  I don't think it got cold enough the first winter for the water to freeze.

[Urist Da Vinci]

...
I'm on an island, with ocean on all sides.

...

The save.

...

Testing on your save file reveals that you can't have water sitting on water if the lower water is at the same height as the ocean's water, anywhere on the island. I suspect this is an ocean feature. Most people don't have isolated islands like you do.

(I dug holes around the island, including the beach, several natural ponds, and under your water tower's vertical pipe)

[Panando]

I've experienced that in the past too. "Beach pseudo-aquifer", it absorbs pressurized water but doesn't produce any water.
It could probably be made to stop happening by building constructed walls to replace the natural walls.

[Uronym]

I had an issue like this once when I embarked near a lake. I had a cistern where the water level on one Z-level was the same level as the lake. The cistern wouldn't fill up any higher once that Z-level filled; the water was simply absorbed.

[slink]

It must be a part of a safety-switch kind of arrangement that keeps the infinite water supply of lakes and oceans from filling the map completely with water.

[Gizogin]

I guess that would make sense.  Thanks for the quick responses everybody.  It's just a bizarre effect.