Water Features Make a Splash Rising demand for ponds and waterfalls means opportunity for contractors.

By Rob Fanjoy This waterfall is an example of "disappearing" water. Photo courtesy of Autumn Mist Aquatics With a softening homebuilding market, more and more people are putting their money into their existing homes. One of the biggest areas in terms of spending growth has been in the backyard. According to the American Nursery and Landscape Association, Americans spent more than $11 billion in professional landscape services in 2002 (the most recent year of their survey) — a 200 percent over the $3.6 billion spent in 1997. Perhaps the fastest growing segment of this industry is water features. "The increase in the number of people wanting water features is skyrocketing," says Rick Bartel, a certified master water feature contractor and owner of Autumn Mist Aquatics in Chattanooga, Tenn. He says that recent surveys have shown that both business and residential customers name water features as the number one component they would like to add to their building. "And since only about 3 percent of U.S. homes currently have a water feature, you can see there's huge market potential." Builder Michael Mendelsohn, owner of Mendelsohn Construction in Scottsdale, Ariz., agrees. "They're very popular right now, and almost every home I do has some sort of water feature." He says that quite often he will install a negative edge pool that runs into some sort of water feature area in the backyard, and stone fountains are becoming the norm. "We put them in the front or back yard, and even inside," he says. "They're great at reducing the street noise." Dive right in If you've never worked with or installed water features before, don't be afraid. Bartel says that most water features can be installed in one day — at a very nice profit — and most simple ones are well within the realm of most contractor skill sets. For the more intricate and involved features, there is a wealth of design and construction help out there. Bartel recommends the following for more education on water features: Water Feature Institute. This site is run through Savio, a water-feature component manufacturer, and Bartel is an instructor with the program.) National Association of Pond Professionals Water Shapes magazine Pond Keeper magazine Water Garden News All of the above resources feature design and construction information, as well as how to locate a certified water-feature professional. "If you have a designer who knows what they're doing, the main things for a contractor to keep in mind are pretty simple: water and power availability, attractively concealing mechanical equipment, and leaving the owners easy access to components that need to be cleaned and maintained," says Mendelsohn. A formal pond and waterfall flank an outdoor kitchen. Photo courtesy of Autumn Mist Aquatics Bartel says there are climactic and regional considerations to be taken into account with any location, but overall, water-feature installation is similar across the country. "You have to be able to shut down and completely drain the system in hard freeze areas, and in desert climes you need pre-filters to keep the sand from doing a number on the filters, pumps and valves. But 85 percent of the country doesn't have those extreme conditions." Maintenance causes few ripples The rap on water features used to be that they were unreliable and maintenance nightmares. That's simply not the case anymore; today's components are engineered to much higher standards and maintenance is now easier and more routine. That said, Mendelsohn still advises that contractors be ready for inevitable call-backs. "These components are subjected to the elements, abuse and neglect unlike any other material you'd find inside a home," he says. Bartel agrees somewhat, but says the chief complaint he hears is that the water feature is too small. "Quite often, people overcrowd their water feature with too many plants or fish and the filter can't handle such a biological load," he says. "People end up wanting larger water features so they can fit more stuff. That's a good complaint." In general, koi ponds require the most maintenance, but those are for people intent on raising fish, and they know that going in. Water gardens that primarily are used to display and propagate aquatic plants are fairly maintenance-free, as the plants do most of the filtering naturally. Owners just need to clear dead leaves and debris from the filter periodically. But Bartel holds the most optimism for what are called "disappearing" water features, where a fountain or waterfall is pumped up through a feature, runs down and disappears into the ground and through a filter/pump system to start all over again. These can be as simple as a small urn in a garden where water comes up through and overflows back into some gravel, or as elaborate as a huge cascading waterfall that takes up an entire yard or as an entry feature for a community. Bartel says there are fewer maintenance issues with disappearing water features, as there are no open bodies of water to collect algae or debris, and there are no life forms present to create any type of waste. Liability issues are also reduced, as there is no danger of pets or children falling into a body of water. "The demand for disappearing water features is off the charts right now," says Bartel. "We literally don't have enough contractors in the country to keep handle the demand." Rob Fanjoy is a freelance writer who specializes in residential construction and design.