How to Build a Waterfall Fountain

A fountain that cascades over a waterfall is double the water feature in a small garden.

You can pack a big punch in a small outdoor space by combining a fountain and a waterfall. A water feature that is lively and musical doesn't need a pond or an elaborate set up. You can build a simple pondless waterfall topped by a fountain that looks as if some fortuitous arrangement of nature set it down in your front entry or next to a terrace or patio. Check with a local quarry or landscapers for a drilled capstone for the fountain.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• Prefabricated pond basin
• Gravel
• Metal grill
• Screen
• Wire clippers
• Submersible pump
• PVC pipe
• Water delivery pipe
• Boulders, rocks and stones
• Drilled capstone
• Mortar (optional)
• Foliage and groundcover (optional)

Instructions

1. Create a hidden reservoir by digging a hole large enough to hold a prefabricated pond basin, available at garden centers and home improvement stores. Line the hole with a thin layer of gravel to make a stable base for the basin and set the basin in the hole.

2. Place a sturdy wire or metal grill over the hole and cut an opening in the center of it. Lay screen over the metal grill and cut a matching opening in the screen. Remove both grill and screen and set aside.

3. Put a submersible pump in the basin. Run the power cord out the side and thread it through a length of PVC pipe. Dig a shallow trench from the basin to the power source and bury the pipe in the trench.

4. Attach a vertical length of rigid pipe to the submersible pump. Place the grill and screen back over the basin, fitting them over the pipe. Build the waterfall by arranging and piling boulders and rocks around the pipe, on top of the grill.

5. Stack the small boulders and rocks with the largest on the bottom and fill in with smaller stones for stability. You can mortar the stones in place if you hide the mortar with rocks but that removes the option to disassemble and easily remove the waterfall or reconfigure it.

6. Place the capstone, a rock or small boulder with a hole drilled in the center to accommodate the pipe, at the top of the rock pile built around the pipe, place the capstone. The pipe should be very close to level with the surface of the stone. Attach the fountainhead to the pipe.

7. Fill the basin with water, using a garden hose, and test the system. Adjust the fountain and the stones. Check the fall or falls to be sure the water spills over the edges of the flat rocks and doesn't slip behind them or pour down along the sides without creating a fall.

8. Cover the grill and screen with more boulders, stones and ornamental grasses, ferns or other groundcover to suit your growing area. Plant foliage around the edge of the basin and allow it to grow over the stone cover or set plants in among the rocks in low planters. Keep the reservoir filled with the garden hose, letting the water fall through the grill under the rocks to the basin.

Tips & Warnings

• Careful stone stacking will make mortaring unnecessary. Leave at least one flat stone sticking out for water to spill over it and fall in a sheet to the rocks below. If there is no flat stone, the water will just trickle down the sides of the rocks and there is no waterfall.

• The fountainhead can provide shooting or burbling water, depending on your design. Spray fountains will not produce enough water flow to feed the waterfall so avoid those. A burbling fountain looks natural spilling down over rocks and creating a waterfall but any fountain that works and allows a flow of water to sheet over the flat rocks below the fountain is fine.

References

• Sunset Magazine: Pondless Waterfalls
• youtube: Rock Fountain
• youtube: Tammy's Tiny Pondless