How to Build a Waterfall in Your Garden
Building an Ornamental Cascade with a Pond Pump and Pond Liner
May 6, 2009
Garden waterfalls not only delight the eye and ear, but help to keep the water in a garden pool clear and well aerated for fish and pond plants. But there are many possible waterfall designs: a torrent of water splashing into an informal pond, or connecting a series of ponds, a cascade flowing down regular steps into a formal pond, a self contained garden water feature or patio ornament, regular rills or channels linking the geometric pools of a Moorish water garden, as in Spain’s Alhambra. Building your own waterfall is easy with modern pumps and materials, and allows you to create the waterfall most suited for your own water garden.
Making an Informal Waterfall with a Pond Pump and Flexible Liner
Materials for a Waterfall
- All you need to make your own waterfall is a pond pump, a length of flexible tubing and suitable material to make the water channel and pond or reservoir. All are available from garden centres, aquatic centres and internet suppliers.
- The material for the water course and pond may be a preformed liner, a flexible liner,clay or concrete.
- Preformed waterfalls are the easiest to install, but other materials allow more flexibility in your design. All have their advantages and disadvantages.
- There are many different pond waterfall pumps to choose from, and choosing the right pump with sufficient capacity for your waterfall is essential to achieving the effect you’re seeking.
- On a mound or slope beside the pond, dig a channel to form a raised pool or series of pools.
- To protect the flexible liner from damage, remove any stones or sharp objects and line the bottom and sides with at least an inch of soft sand and/or a thick layer of old newspaper. You can buy a special liner, but sand and paper do just as well.
- Line the channel and pools with a continuous strip of pond liner, with a 6-9 inch overlap on either side and a generous overlap into the main pond.
- Set flat pieces of rock on the lower lips of the pools to create waterfalls, setting them on off cuts of spare liner to protect the liner from any sharp points.
- Site your pond pump in the deepest part of the main pond, and lead a flexible supply tube from the pump to the uppermost pool.
- Start the pump and adjust the rocks and liner as necessary to create the effect you want. You may need to bed the rock slabs in sand or mortar to direct the flow of water.
- When the water is flowing as you want it, use rocks and plants or turf to hide the edges of the liner, and bury or hide the supply pipe.
To avoid the risk of electric shocks, particularly as water is involved, it‘s essential that pond pumps are properly installed and that all external cables are suitably protected. The risk can be minimised by using a low-voltage pump, but only competent electricians should install high voltage garden electrical equipment.
Children can come to harm in even shallow water. Unless they can always be closely guarded around water, it’s wise to erect barriers or choose features like bog gardens or pebble fountains, which don’t involve open water.
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