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Water Features

The World's Most Extreme Pond Build (part 2)

by Matt Boring

The Natural Water Gardener

  I'm just outside Chicago this July and the pond building is well under way.  On the job are hundreds of the best pond builders from dozens of companies in the U.S. and Canada and we're working on installing a pond almost as big as a football field.  While the work continues, I take an opportunity to check out the patio that's being put together at the pond's edge.  At first glance it would appear to be a normal patio made from paver stones--but it's hiding a huge secret.  This patio is permeable and underneath it is a huge AquaBlox Matrix which will hold 3,000 gallons of rainwater underfoot.  Since the building has one of the largest sloping green roofs in North America, there is no need for downspouts.  But that doesn't have to stop rainwater capture.  When rain falls on the patio, it can run between the paver stones and the gravel substrate and end up in the giant holding area underneath.  A pump is installed adjacent to the patio that will raise the water from the matrix and send it through an irrigation system to water some of the landscaping at proper pressure.  This is practically impossible to do with traditional gravity-fed rainwater capture systems.  A rain sensor is connected to shut down the system when it rains.  No sense wasting rainwater, even if it's free!

  There are only a couple of days left to finish the water feature before the press shows up for the news conference.  The left side of the pond is already filling up with two giant firehoses running full blast.  Even so, it will take a couple of days to fill this behemoth.  Once this side of the pond gets nearly full, it will spill over to the other side of the pond, so work continues getting all the stones placed and the aquatic plants installed over there to be ready for the water.  By the time this pond is turned on, there will be literally hundreds of plants already in it. 

  Since the right side of the pond doesn't have any waterfall on it, some large jets are being installed to make sure that the water keeps moving and doesn't develop a stagnant area.  We also don't want sediments to settle to the lowest part of the pond, so another matrix of AquaBlox is installed in the lowest part of the pond.  Water will be sucked from here and recirculated through the jets hidden between the stones along the wall of the pond.  It's something that no one will ever see and you wouldn't even know it was there, but it's vital to the health of the pond, so it must be done.  With three massive pumps moving about 150,000 gallons of water per hour through the waterfalls and bog filters, this water feature will be properly filtered and well-circulated. 

  I must say we were well fed during this event.  To keep energy levels up for this large a crew takes quite a bit of grub.  We were treated to sandwiches, freshly-grilled burgers, salads, pasta salads, two kinds of Chicago pizza, Italian meat subs, and masta—masti--some kind of pasta with a great sauce!  All of this great food made it feel like nap time after lunch each day, so we kept our levels up by participating in events in the Pond Olympics.  I'm proud to say that the red team—the team from the southern U.S. took top honors and brought home the gold-colored plastic medal.  We also got a Starbucks gift certificate.  Take that, Olympic athletes!

  The landscaping was in full swing by this point as the pond continued to fill.  Dozens of trees and hundreds of plants sat in the shaded staging area awaiting their final places in the huge pondscape.  They were brought out on giant racks and set out for planting.  Since everyone here was very experienced in what we were doing, the work seemed almost effortless.  Volunteers finished one task and moved seamlessly into the next.  When the part of the pond they were working on was finished, they'd slide right in to help the landscape crew.  The earthen berm behind the grotto was finished and large pine trees were being planted.  It was a nice change of pace for me.  Usually I don't get to see a pond I'm working on landscaped so quickly.  Normally when I finish a pond, the surroundings are bare until the homeowner hires a landscaper or installs something themselves.  This one's going to look like it's been here a long time already. 

  The pond is almost full and the excitement is starting to build as the moment of truth approaches.  The final touches are being put onto the waterfall that will come off of the top of the grotto.  The inside of the grotto is also almost finished.  Small holes will be drilled through the roof of it so that just a little water will trickle down inside the room to really give it the look and feel of being in a real cave.  Masses of tree roots will even be installed hanging from the ceiling to give the illusion that the roots are actually growing through the rock.  Someone thought this thing out thoroughly. 

  Finally, we are all hailed to the front of the main waterfall.  It's the moment we've all been waiting for.  They're about to turn on the waterfall that falls in front of the grotto opening.  A hush falls over the group as the guys on top of the grotto announce that the water's flowing.  It will only take a minute or so before it starts flowing over this massive falls.  Cameras click, beep, whir, and make some sounds I didn't know a camera could make as the first trickle starts to spill over.  Soon it's flowing full-force and a giant cheer erupts from the tired, but proud workers. 

  We're ordered to the back of the berm so that a group photo can be taken of this humongous crowd.  The photographer is practically on the roof of the building just to get everyone in frame.  Immediately after the pictures are snapped, shirts start flying off as guys head to the diving rock and start jumping in one by one.  The DJ who's been operating the music all week gets one final request from some of the ladies present and “It's Raining Men” blares from the speakers as smiling shirtless men continue to jump and fall and do cannonballs from the diving rock.  I couldn't help but laugh at that scene.  It was a great week and when I think of all the hardworking people who came together, some of them paying, to work this hard for nothing but the enjoyment of what we do, it just about brings tears to my eyes every time.  This is the only vacation many of us who were there can afford to take this year, but that is where we chose to go and that is what we chose to do with our free time.  We work hard all year to bring a little nature to people's lives and teach them about organic ecosystems and this is what we also do for fun.  It was a great chance to be part of something bigger than any one of us could be.

  As I told someone up there in St. Charles, 'What great jobs we all have!'

Happy Pondering!