Waterfalls. . . .cont.

Where to start? Choosing a location. The first problem I confronted was that I needed to move the fall to another spot. I liked having it on the wide end as that gave me a perfect view of it from the seating area. The catch was that it created a flow of water in the deep area reserved for the lilies and they don't like a current. On graph paper I drew the pond with several locations for the fall and picked the one that gave me a good view, yet would not irritate the water lilies.

Next problem, the liner had been trimmed and wasn't large enough for the proposed project. I had some left over from construction, so I bought an adhesive recommended for EPDM rubber. Making sure it was for marine use and was non-toxic to fish. Following the directions I cleaned, dried, and "roughed up" the material, applied the glue and let it set up the required number of hours.

Now a berm had to be built to support the waterfall. Three old tires from the garage became the base for the berm. First two were placed on the ground and leveled. Using rocks they were filled halfway, then filled to the top with good dirt. The third tire became the final level and was given the same treatment. The liner was then laid over the top and fitted to follow the "steps."

Finally it was time to locate the perfect rocks to form the falls. Several trips down dirt roads later I was ready to set them up on the liner. This step takes a lot of adjusting and re-adjusting. Don't rush it and try each configuration with water running over it until you get the look and sound you want. Remember, "Great Stuff" is your friend, a squirt of it here and there will not only stabilize the rocks, but will help direct the water over the falls instead of through and behind.

The trickiest part is to get rocks arranged along the side to pull the liner up and over, then tuck the liner under the next row of rocks on the side. To accomplish this with out it looking very contrived is a challenge. I finally decided to use some of the larger rocks from my collection-if it was going to look contrived at least it would be interesting.

Now the water source needed to be connected, this is the fun part. Try many different placements for the source. Tuck it under this rock and that, each spot will produce a different visual as well aural effect.

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