Photo by flickr-jojo71
Generally speaking, there are four basic parts to water feature:
- Pedestal area
- Catch basin
- Streams and falls
- Shelves and pond
By understanding the function of each of these four parts, you can design a well-balanced and properly functioning home garden water feature.
Pedestal
The pedestal area is the excavated section of soil situated at the head of your water feature. This will usually be 8 to 12 inches deep where place stones or even plant some bog plants. One of the biggest mistakes people make when they build a water feature, is that they simply go ahead and begin stacking stones one on top of the other. Of course, if you do it this way, you’ll have no guarantee that all the water running over the stones will make it back to the pond. This is exactly why it’s essential to make sure that your pond liner extends all the way under the rocks, as this will ensure that all the water is returned to the pond.
Catch Basins
The catch basin has two fundamental purposes:
1) It helps to reduce splash. In other words, water running over the waterfall and falling into deeper waters will create fewer splashes than if it was falling onto bare rock
2) It helps to enhance the sound of your waterfall, in that as the water from the waterfall makes contact with the deeper waters in the catch basin, it will then result in a wonderfully robust sound.
The size of your catch basin will depend largely on the amount of water falling, and also the height from which it is falling. Bear in mind that the more water you use, the deeper your catch basin should be. Likewise, the higher your water is falling from, the greater the surface area should be.
Streams and Falls
I can assure you that streams and falls are perhaps the trickiest part of a good pond, in that if you don’t do them properly, you’ll end up having a nightmare. This is because you’ll more than likely end up having water running off the liner and getting in under all of your rocks, and this in turn means that you’ll have water falling onto areas which have no lining below.
This task becomes increasingly difficult the more you increase the slope and the volume of water. However, for the time being, you simply need to be aware of the fact that streams are channels which connect the various catch basins, while falls on the other hand are parts of the stream which have been designed in such a way so that water will run over rocks before it falls down into the catch basin.
Shelves and Ponds
Shelves are flat sections of soil on which rocks will rest below the pond surface. These are used to separate the deeper areas of your pond from the shallower areas. A water feature can also be made to look more natural by increasing the size of the shelves, which allows you to place more rocks in the pond.
An important thing to remember: a pond is not simply a hole in the ground capable of holding water; it’s home to an entire mini-ecosystem. The pond is also where you will have your skimmer box, your plants, and of course, your fish. With a little bit of imagination you can create a stunning underwater effect, but unfortunately so many people tend to skimp on this. Remember, the pond is the most important part of your water feature, and as such, it should be given the most priority.
