ARTICLES Archives - Page 123 of 315

The Preservation Arts

I've written quite a bit - and, I think, with passion - about the need to preserve and protect our cultural heritage as it relates to watershapes (click here, for one recent example). There are plenty of grand public pools, classic fountains and even some architecturally significant residential watershapes that

Nightmares Under Foot

In many parts of the country, it's not uncommon to encounter the unexpected when you start digging to make way for a swimming pool or some other watershape. There might be field stone, a rock ledge, a buried outcropping or even hardpan. Depending on the size, depth and extent of these stony intrusions, running into any of them can, as the video linked below suggests, take a homeowner's budget expectations and throw them right out the window. And it's not just rock that can be a hidden issue: Various types of soil can be problematic, as can the groundwater level in the

Ripples #89

Compiled and Written by Lenny Giteck New Study: Urinating in Pools Poses Serious Health Dangers

Ripples #88

Compiled and written by Lenny Giteck Two New Brouhahas About Proper Swimming Attire in Public Pools

#12: Equipment Room

For the most part, the equipment sets that power pool and spa systems are placed outdoors in spaces near their watershapes. Maybe that's behind a gate along the side of the house, or behind some shrubs or a wall in a corner of the yard. Wherever they go, these equipment clusters should be positioned so that the noise made by various motors and pumps isn't so pronounced that it

A Prairie Experience

It's been a number of years since I've managed to visit Chicago, but I want to get back sometime soon. After all, I have yet to see the Crown Fountain in person (let alone the rest of Millennium Park), and I haven't visited the Chicago Botanic Garden in more than 30 years! The last time I was in the Windy City with any time to spare, it was 2002 and I was attending

The Fullness of Time

When WaterShapes first appeared in February 1999, those of us behind the magazine had some definite hopes about how things would play out in our declared marketplace. [ ] First was the hope that there really was an emergent

An Illuminating Exercise

Of all the messages I've tried to convey in this video series and its introductory texts, one of the crucial ones is my observation that the people who buy and own ponds will spend lots of time enjoying their watershapes after it gets dark. The only way to make that happen, of course, is to include an effective in-pond lighting system to make the watershape's best features

Test Your Knowledge #77

Aussie Marathon Swimmer Sets Swim Spa Endurance Record

Artful Engagement

This edition of WaterShapes EXTRA carries a link to one of my all-time favorite WaterShapes articles: "Living Art" by Philip di Giacomo and Mark Holden. I remember how pleased Eric Herman was to land this particular story for our October 2004 issue. He'd been after di Giacomo periodically for years, and we both looked on Phil's willingness to develop an article as