Pondless Waterfalls

Pondless waterfalls are desirable for your clients because they are very simple and cheap to maintain. Rather than having to feed fish or check oxygen levels in a pond, they will simply need to change a filter now and then. Furthermore, corporations or homeowners can have them on their property without fearing someone could be injured by falling into a pool of water.

Pondless waterfalls are fast becoming a popular sector in the water features market. As their name suggests, they look, sound and act like normal waterfalls, but forgo collecting ponds at their base.

What makes them desirable is their relatively low cost of installation as well as the minimal maintenance required to run them. They are attractive for businesses looking to avoid the liability of potentially hazardous ponds on their property, not to mention homeowners that spend a lot of time traveling.

How It Works

Pondless waterfalls involve many of the same features of conventional waterfalls. The basic process of water flowing down a sloped or stepped structure holds true in both instances, however rather than collecting in a standing pool of water, the liquid seeps into a base of rocks and gravel. As the water slowly flows below the surface, it collects in a lined underground chamber. There it is fed into a submersible pump, which circulates the water through a tube (usually flexible PVC pipe) underneath the rocks and back up to the top of the structure, thus allowing the process to begin again.

Installation and Maintenance

Building a retention basin under a pondless waterfall is much easier and faster to build than a normal pond. The process involves digging a reservoir for water collection, laying down a liner, placing a vault and installing a submersbile pump along with tubing, and finally placing rocks on top of it all. The rest of the setup is identical to building a normal waterfall.

Advantages

There are a number of advantages that come along with pondless waterfalls. The obvious benefit is the lack of a pool at the base. This avoids many of the problems and liabilities associated with standard waterfalls. In addition, the water pump does not have to be running at all times. Absent of living, breathing, organisms such as fish and algae, pondless water features can be turned off without fear of damaging mini ecosystems. Once installed, they can also be set to run on a timer and auto-fill to replace evaporated water. The only maintenance required is occasionally replacing a filter.

As you can see, rather than a typical pond, the water seeps into sand and gravel at the base of a waterfall, which eventually feeds into an underground chamber. As a Landscape Contractor, these types of waterfalls can be lucrative for you because of their relative ease and low cost of installation.

Fountain of Youth

At LCN we are always looking for new and innovative water features. This February we were introduced at the CLCA in Los Angeles to WetDek, from S.R.Smith.

Appealing equally to our childlike instinct to want to run and play in it and our adult sensibility to appreciate it as a soothing water feature, this pondless water fountain is available in stand-alone and poolside versions. The stand-alone includes 6, 9 or 12 brass jets (depending on the kit), a 4” nickel drain with ABS hub, a 150 gallon water reservoir, an inline chlorinator, a 25 square foot filter housing, four solenoid valves, pump, and a pre-programmed, proprietary control system. The pool-side kit includes 6, 9 or 12 brass jets, a 4” nickel drain with ABS hub, four solenoid valves and a pre-programmed, proprietary control system. As the contractor, you supply the piping runs, surfacing materials, electrical work, system testing and associated finish work.

During normal operation the WetDek backyard splash pad will actively shoot water into the air, up to 6 feet high, through multiple nozzles simultaneously. Built-in program selection and timing circuitry allows owners to pick their preferred program and set the length of each water play session.

Water Facts

100: Gallons. Waterfalls should have a minimum of 100 gallons per hour of water flow over each inch of width of the waterfall. If the fall has a width of 20 inches, it should have a flow of 2000 gallons per hour for it to look good. Source: Ponds and Fountains 37:/strong> Percent. More than 37 percent of all waterfalls have serious structural damage within 3 years of construction, according to a recent survey.