ARTICLES Archives - Page 113 of 316

Swimming in It

It's not the kind of story you want to see in your newspaper or stumble upon while surfing the web: According to researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., the waters of a sampling of well-used swimming pools in Indiana and Georgia were tested and found to contain a whole list of chemicals you might not want to

Pumped-Up Savings

Through the years, professional watershapers have learned that good hydraulic design can significantly increase system efficiency while lowering the ongoing costs of operation. Now they're also recognizing that achieving these efficiencies and finding these savings are perceived as "going green" - a key to helping

When the city of Denver decided to revitalize an old downtown neighborhood by bringing its historic train station back to life, reports Karen Van Heukelem, she and her colleagues at Colorado Hardscapes were ready to pitch in on several levels. They did lots of work that’s buried underground, she notes, but the evidence their sub-grade craftsmanship shines forth on deck in the form of a wonderful leaping-jet waterfeature.

All Aboard!

In recent years, cities across the United States have found that restoring their old train stations is a great way to attract people and commerce to downtown districts that have seen better days. These revitalization projects have picked up the pace in cities from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, and they seem to work best when old, original functions are preserved and mixed in with the new.That's precisely the direction that redevelopment of Denver's historic Union Station has taken: The classic, Beaux Arts-style building, which opened in 1914, lost almost all of the

Edgy Activity

We've come to the part of the installation process that's my personal favorite: finishing up the plant placement and setting the edges. This is, of course, part of every pond-installation project on one level or another, but with a frog pond, my approach is a little different. As you'll see in the video linked below (and may have noticed in previous installments), the profile of this frog pond is

The Aquatic Quiz #17

Celeb Tweet: 'If Swimming Is GreatExercise, Explain Whales to Me'

In with the New?

I've never had much luck when it comes to using this time of year, as so many do, to take stock, review the year just ending or think in any significant way about what's to come with a fresh page on a newly printed calendar. The reasons for this are simple: WaterShapes exists in service to professionals who return the favor by

Ripples #105

An Encore Presentation of the Top 10 Ripples Items of All Time

The Aquatic Quiz #16

Groundbreaking First: Black Woman Wins World Swimming Title in Doha

Burning Sensations

If you've been a contractor for any length of time, it's likely that you've installed more 500-watt incandescent lamps (and the niches, rings and glass lenses that enclose them) than you can easily count. These fixtures aren't installed as commonly as they once were, but there are

A Rippling Departure

Back in 2008 and 2009, lots of folks weren't too shy about letting me know I was nuts not to pursue the opportunities embodied in digital media and the Internet. The most persistent voice among those who doubted my sanity was that of Lenny Giteck. I had nominally been his boss at