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[Immortal-D]

My reservoir has suddenly begun surging to dangerous overflowing !FUN! levels, and I can't figure any reason why.  Here is the setup;

(O)cean water, (F)loodgate, (W)all

           W O W
           W O W
       W W F W
       W F  (Overflow here)

Here is ingame;

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Far as I can tell, it was working just fine before, though it could be water has been accumulating so slowly that I didn't notice until it overflowed.  Could a boulder have been washed in with enough force to break it?

[Vattic]

A closed floodgate in the position you mark in the screenshot should be visible. An item may be stopping it from closing.

[Immortal-D]

A closed floodgate in the position you mark in the screenshot should be visible. An item may be stopping it from closing.

*facepalm*  That's exactly the problem.  It was built atop some boulders which never got removed.

[Albedo]

<nods>

Should be a big square blocky floodgate right where you're pointing. (Note that unlike Doors, a Floodgate can have quite a long delay on it between the time you throw the lever and when it responds. Some players use Doors instead of Floodgates for exactly that reason. Ymmv.*)

(* Edit - Or it used to. Things like this I knew back in the earlier version I played a lot. Things might have changed for all I know.)


Either way, typical problem is a loose stone left in the channel, swept perfectly into position and now blocking the floodgate from closing when the water flow is first introduced.   (After the water hits a constant 7/7, there is no "flow" to push things any more.)

I try to [d]ump all my stone in such channels, but especially up-stream (I also like a clean screen, not flashing boulders under the water).

(Edit - crosspost. The boulder(s) probably got shifted 1 tile "upstream" to make room for the construction when the floodgate was put into place, which then got pushed to the intersection by the water flow.

 I ~always~ test open/close all systems before going "hot" - or "wet", as the case may be. Hope you have a safety built in upstream!)

[Immortal-D]

I did test, just missed those boulders which have been slowly moving downstream.  I have further downstream backups, but that is the primary floodgate.  Hmm, this will be an interesting challenge

[Albedo]

Hmmm, awkward, yes... "interesting", indeed, very... 

[Skullsploder]

This is why you should use raising bridges instead of floodgates. They pulverise puny stones.

[NW_Kohaku]

Actually, this is why you need to always drain to infinite sinks, rather than mere overflow or evaporation areas unless you have extremely controlled circumstances.

Bridges actually make a decent "sink", as they pulverize water as well as items.  Simply set the bridge to a repeater (possibly even an ocean-based repeater) to make the bridge constantly smash water.  Obviously, this requires non-clogging plumbing (pave with roads to prevent tower caps!) that drains into the bridging room, and larger bridges work faster.  Without some method of preventing inflow from an infinite fountain, however, an ocean will always overpower a sink unless you have more sink than fountain. 

Alternately, the "classic" method of draining the ocean is to engrave a fortification to the edge of the map (you still need to pave the drain with roads!) although even that will be subject to constant flooding unless you are using progressive layers of pumps to drain deeper into the ocean than it can refill.  (Kiss your FPS goodbye!)

Your best bet to reclaim that passage is to dig out several sinks, and then connect them to either end of the passage via digging a ramp up into those areas.  For dwarf safety, have them dig diagonally upwards from a (non-lever-linked) doorway or from under a bridge. (See "exploit from below".)

Since the passage is only one tile wide, if you have infinite sinks connected to either end of the passage, you should be able to drain input that has to squeeze through one tile faster than it can sustain water within a single passage like that if you're draining from both ends. 

Also... clean up your boulders.  Shame on you.