Have Your Garden Fountain and Be Water Wise Too

With their delicate movement and melodious splash, water features often become the focal point of a garden. And nothing brings a feeling of coolness and tranquility quite like a pond or fountain. But what about water consumption? In warm climates how you locate, design and maintain your fountain or shallow pool can greatly affect how much water it consumes. Here are some water-wise tips for incorporating a water feature into your landscape.

Careful siting. Warm water evaporates more quickly than cool water. Locating your water feature where it can receive a bit of shade from a pergola or another structure can help keep surface temperatures down.


Strategic landscaping. Plant waterside shrubs, perennials and grasses and use fences or privacy screening as barriers to help reduce water loss from wind evaporation. Decreasing the amount of wind going across the water feature will cut down on evaporation.


Cascading fountains. Fountains generally fall into two categories: those in which water is sprayed up and those in which water cascades down into a reservoir. A trickling or cascading fountain loses less water to evaporation than one in which water is sprayed into the air.


How to Make an Existing Fountain More Water Wise

Adjust the spray. If your garden is already outfitted with a fountain that sprays, consider adjusting it so that the water sprays no more than 4 inches into the air. A smaller fountain such as this one also exposes less water to the air, meaning less evaporation.


Turn it down. Fill your water feature to a level a few inches lower than usual to reduce the amount of water splashed out.


Go dry. With a jet-style fountain, aeration causes a significant amount of water to be lost to evaporation. Yes, they are pretty, and we love the sound of running water, but consider running fountains and waterfalls only when you’re entertaining.

With its classic shape and bands of textural interest, this well-designed fountain would look great even when dry.


Check for cracks and leaks. Use a grease pencil to mark the water level, then check the mark 24 hours later. If the water feature has lost more than ¼ inch of water, it may have a leak.

Next: More ways to save water in the landscape

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