Abstract: Water in large reservoir is often featured with evident temperature stratification over depth with a significant variation by roughly 20℃ from surface to bottom. Multi-level orifice intake is a typical device for taking water from reservoirs for irrigation, and its major function is to control the temperature of released water within a range suitable for crops. The existing studies on the design of such intakes and their temperature regulation are lacking. In this study, physical model tests were conducted by adjusting submergence and flow rate to model thermal stratification of reservoir and explore the relationship among released water temperature , reservoir water temperature, intake submergence and intake flow rate. Results show that released water temperature is lowered as intake submergence increases while raised as intake flow rate increases. In addition, released water temperature also depends on the temperature distribution over reservoir water body. This study would lay a basis for design, operation and management of multi-level orifice intakes.