Adding a water feature to your garden
Relax to the sound of water splashing in your fountain or over your waterfall.
A water feature for our garden is something we've long dreamed of and, hopefully, it will soon be realized. We are planning a relatively simple construction but one which will enhance the usefulness of the garden as well as adding an intangible tranquility factor.
There is an obvious location for our water feature where the ground naturally slopes up from our house so that is the natural line for the stream. The idea is to have a stormwater tank which will store all the rainwater and which will contain two powerful submersible electric pumps. These pumps will be powered by solar panels and, because they are electric, are both silent and virtually maintenance free.
The idea is that the pumps push the water uphill to our water feature (it is important with pumps that you 'push' rather than 'suck'). This is because a pump is far more efficient if operated that way around. When setting up your system you should endeavor to minimize the suction part and you cannot reduce it any further than with a submersible pump which actually sits at the bottom of the rainwater tank and, therefore, has no suction hose. Electric submersible pumps can be purchased for under £50 (US$100) and are very simple to fit.
The water feature will be constructed by excavating a not-too-straight trench about 600mm wide by about 1m deep. The bottom of the trench will be lined with a layer of soft sand to prevent damage to the plastic liner which will be laid on top. Smooth stones and gravel will then be placed in the bottom to form the stream bed. Apart from the aesthetic appeal of this, the aggregate will also serve to protect the liner from damage by animals which might stop to take a drink or a bath.
In order to stop the water from scouring the gravel away, we plan to build 3 or 4 deep pools. These will be constructed in local stone with a fine concrete backing behind them and with the joint between that and the liner sealed with a polysulphide sealant. Water will then fill up behind these dams and eventually trickle over the top forming a waterfall.
A pipe will then run underground from the pump to a tank at the high end of the water feature. The water will be discharged as an underground stream into a pool. The pumps can then be connected up to their solar panels.
A finishing touch for our water feature will be to add in a fountain to each pool. Each of these will be solar powered too. At night, of course, without any solar energy, the stream will stop but each pool will ensure that the stream does not become dry. Each fountain and waterfall will also serve to aerate the water.
I'm looking forward to sitting by our new water feature.
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