How to Build Ponds & Waterfalls: The Complete Guide

How well you build your pond or waterfall can make all the difference in feel, quality and maintenance.

Make your backyard complete by building ponds and waterfalls into the land. Ponds and waterfalls can provide food production as well as a sense of serenity and relaxation. Flowering, fruiting and seed-head water plants can make appealing designs. The right fish plan makes the difference between occasional fishing for the fry pan and colorful pets we feed and attend to. Design is everything. Know your goals and options for your site, and enjoy learning as you go.

Things You'll Need

• Recirculating water pump
• Rubber pond liner
• Shovel/backhoe
• Wide rocks
• Design plans
• Water plants
• Edge of water plants
• Fish stock
• Water spigot hookup
• Quick cement
• Hoe
• Wheelbarrow

Instructions

1. Dig down to the predetermined depth and width of your pond. Make the pond either 2 feet deep and 8 feet wide or, if it needs to be smaller, 4 feet deep and 4 or 5 feet wide to prevent fish theft. If you plan to mix cement for parts of the design, locate these tools and materials nearby ahead of time.

2. 

   Large rocks make the most natural waterfalls.

   Design waterfall rocks for the head of your pond, nearest to your water source. Wide rocks give a waterfall the most natural, expansive feel. Follow your design sketches or pictures. Watch your placement so each rock seems to fit naturally for an easy, natural-looking water flow. Pack the dirt around edges and plateaus to make attractive, natural looking plant beds. For smaller falls, sometimes engineering cement watercourses can be simpler. Remember rock patterns and lifelike styles at this stage, as well.

3. 

   Sand beaches and thickly planted South American botanical species can give a jungle feel.

   Lay the pond liner into the reservoir cavity, with the edge coming right under the mouth of the waterfall. Placement should catch all falling water, guiding it into the pond. Plant the edges of the pond with the your plants. Allow dirt that falls into the pond to remain there, the water plants and ecosystem creatures you add will make use of it. Consider sand, and small a beach.

4. 

   Catfish are a fat, fast-growing algae eaters --- and they taste great fried.

   Become familiar with installation directions from your water recirculation pump. Assemble this once the pond is filled with water and you have added plants. The pump will clear any mud. After your pond has been recycling water for several days, and the water is remaining clear, introduce your fish and aquatic animals.

5. Aquatic features like water lilies, lotuses, moss, tinfoil and algae add to feed layers with frogs, turtles, salamanders and fish species and give the impression the pond and waterfall are a natural occurrence. The best pump lasts a lifetime, with little maintenance. Placement and installation details reveal themselves when investigating styles and manufacturers. Know ahead of time where it will go and how it will be installed.

Tips & Warnings

• Water that falls a distance not only sounds natural, it keeps the pond water aerated, and cleaner. Well-designed ponds provide food. Fish, wild grasses and rices, watercress, herbs and vegetables. Ponds also attract water birds, which lay eggs. Foods grown around ponds need less watering and fertilizing.

References

• Permaculture-ponds: How to Build Backyard Waterfalls
• Exotic Waterscapes: Water Garden Ponds and Waterfalls