How to Build a Waterfall

If you happen to have a water garden or fishpond on your premises and would like to expand on what you have, one of the best ways to improve a water structure is to build a waterfall. This is a fairly simple and visually appealing addition to a pond. To build a waterfall, you need a few simple items and a few hours’ time.

Before you can build a waterfall, you will have to have a submersible pump. Because the waterfall pump will be for recycling the water, not just filtering, it can be a small pump. However, if you are planning to build a waterfall and want to incorporate filtering into it, be sure to buy the right size pump for your water structure.

You will need black rubber tube the right diameter for your pump and the right length to reach from the pump to the top of your waterfall. You can build a waterfall by installing a preformed piece of plastic, most of which are made to look like stone and are typically three-tiered, or you can build a waterfall with flat creek rock or quarried stone. Do not use limestone if you have fish in the water.

To build the waterfall, simply build or install any size structure you want where the water can gently fall from the top back to the water source. You will want to hook up the pump and the tubing so that you can conceal as much of the tubing as possible as you build. Monitor the waterfall carefully for a couple of days after you have built it to be sure you are not losing water somewhere. You’ll know because the original source of water pumping up to the waterfall will not maintain it’s original water level. Make adjustments as necessary until you have a continuous flow of water from the source, up the tube, down the waterfall, and back again.