By Debra Maurer

Water features are a great way to enhance your outdoor living area. Whether you have an ornate little courtyard or a large yard with a pool, the beauty and acoustics of moving water can have a calming effect, making you want to spend more time outdoors. It can be as simple as placing a fountain in your garden or as elaborate as hiring a landscape architect or pool designer to incorporate breathtaking water features into your pool. If you really want to connect with nature, ponds and water gardens are another option. Read on to learn how each of these water features are installed and maintained.

Fountains

If you are looking for a simple stand-alone water feature, a fountain will add an elegant touch and feeling of serenity to your yard. Fountains come in many different sizes and varieties including tiered fountains, wall fountains, bubbling urns, and even bird bath fountains. Tiered fountains create a waterfall effect as water flows down various levels, while bubbling urns offer unique focal points.

Fountains can be purchased at garden centers, big box stores, and department stores. Their availability and simple DIY installation makes them a popular way to doll up any backyard, garden, or pond. To keep the water moving, most fountains come with an electric pump, though some are solar-powered. Those with electric pumps must be placed in an area where you can run the wire to an electrical outlet and hide the wire with surrounding plants.

Waterfalls

A waterfall can make your backyard look and feel like paradise. Rock waterfalls remain popular water features because they create a tropical, natural, and/or resort-like style.

Homeowners may choose natural stone or faux rock. If you prefer authentic materials, you can work with your pool designer or landscape architect to explore local quarries. You may also have stone shipped from distant locations, but keep in mind that the shipping cost will be much higher. Though natural stone is typically cheaper by the ton, the added cost of freight and installation makes it comparable to the cost of its manmade substitute. Faux rock is often composed of GFRC (Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete) that is molded from natural rock formations and colored to match the grain and texture of various stone types. Compared to the real thing, GFRC is lighter in weight and easier to install.

A rock waterfall is a great addition to a lagoon-style pool or pond. Don’t have either? No worries. A rock waterfall can be installed as a stand-alone feature known as a “pondless waterfall.” Where exactly does the water go? As it flows down the rocks, it’s captured in a small basin (matrix block or biofilter) hidden beneath the rocks and carried back up to the top through a hose. As with a fountain, it can be easily turned on and off and requires almost zero maintenance after installation.

Ponds & Water Gardens

A pond allows you to add a truly organic element to your backyard, as long as you’re willing to keep up with the maintenance after it’s installed. Remember, it’s not just a pond—it’s also an ecosystem. To reduce algae and keep the water balanced, ponds should have about 60 percent of the surface covered with plants. Some water plants, such as water hyacinths and water lettuce, will multiply in a matter of weeks. Water lilies, a popular choice among pond owners, must be planted in pots lowered 12 – 18 inches into the pond, so you’ll want to create a few ledges in your pond design.

You may also add fish to your pond. Japanese koi are desirable because of their bright colors and friendly nature; plus, they eat algae. Be aware that they are prey for blue heron and raccoons so it’s a good idea to dig a few places in the pond where koi can hide. Ways to protect koi from predators are to keep a mesh net over the pond, install a motion-activated water sprayer, or purchase a heron statue. (You must move the statue to different positions every few days for it to maintain its “scarecrow” effect.)

Be sure that you are happy with the size of your pond before installing the liner. The larger your pond, the more plants and fish you’ll be able to have; for this reason, many pond owners wish they built bigger ponds. If you simply want a water garden containing plants only, the water can be a minimum of 2 feet deep. If you plan to have koi, the pond must be at least 3 feet deep.

Choose the location of your pond or water garden carefully. While fish ponds require some shade, you don’t want to put your pond under a tree with much leaf drop, though the use of a net will catch falling leaves or debris. Much like a pool, pond water cannot remain stagnant, and requires a pump. Attaching the hose to a fountain or waterfall will not only keep the water moving, but add an attractive water feature. 

Photo courtesy of Rico Rock, Inc.

If you are a pool owner, adding an element of moving water can be just the thing to bring your pool to life, especially during poolside affairs. Here are a number of popular features:

• Laminar jets produce a steady arc of bubble-free water, creating the illusion of a glass tube as water shoots from the deck into the pool. They’re often lit by LEDs to create a colorful visual effect at night.

• Deck jets or fountain spitters are an economical alternative to laminar jets. The stream of water contains air so that it sprays slightly apart in droplets.

• Fountain bubblers or sun jets (also known as foam jets) shoot water up out of the pool floor like geysers, and they are usually located on a sunshelf or entry step. The height of the water can be adjusted to your liking. Because this feature is built into the pool floor, it must be installed during the pool’s construction or a major renovation.

• Rock waterfalls are common in tropical, lagoon-style pools and can be made of real or faux rock. Larger waterfalls may be multiple levels and can have water flowing from several different sources.

• Waterwalls send water cascading down a wall that is typically made of rock.

• Sheetfalls are sheets of water that flow down from a thin, flattened spillway.

• Sconces are decorative objects mounted on a wall from which a narrow stream of water flows.

• Scuppers are features that send water across a small ledge before it  falls down into the pool.

• Rainfall curtains are created via a series of pencil-like streams of water that rain down from an elevated beam.