lakes
If there’s one thing all ponds and lakes have in common (beyond the obvious fact that they all contain water), it’s that they’re as different as snowflakes – highly idiosyncratic, often challenging and sometimes almost willful in the way they resist being manipulated. For the past 35 years, we at Diversified Waterscapes (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) have just about seen it all as specialists in maintaining man-made ponds and lakes and in remediating those that have fallen on hard times and suffer with severe problems. We’ve found that every situation is different and that figuring out what’s going on involves the evaluation of countless variables – some obvious and easy to read, others less so. For all that, our experience tells us that the serviceability and sustainability of ponds and lakes is for the most part determined long before we come on the scene – even before they are filled with water. When they’ve been designed and installed with a few key principles in mind, we find them to be cooperative and affordably manageable. If a few of the more common mistakes are made, however, it’s a completely different and far nastier
When it comes to the myriad specialties of the world of watershaping, it's tough to think of any as broad as the one occupied by floating fountains: It's a category of systems that encompass flotation, illumination, spray systems, submersible pumps, connecting devices and land-based controls. On the one hand are the huge systems installed near the shores of lakes and rivers. These fountains can be monumental in size and visually dramatic - the sorts of popular landmarks that become tourist attractions and, often, community icons. On the other, there are the countless smaller floating fountains and aerators located in golf-course ponds and water hazards, in municipal-park and stormwater ponds, on private estates and institutional campuses and in the bays of larger bodies of water, either as single features or as groups. For 45 years now, our firm has been fortunate enough to have designed (and at times installed) floating fountain systems across this full spectrum, from the large and spectacular to the small and surprisingly subtle. Some have been purely decorative, while others have been totally
When it comes to the myriad specialties of the world of watershaping, it's tough to think of any as broad as the one occupied by floating fountains: It's a category of systems that encompass flotation, illumination, spray systems, submersible pumps, connecting devices and land-based controls. On the one hand are the huge systems installed near the shores of lakes and rivers. These fountains can be monumental in size and visually dramatic - the sorts of popular landmarks that become tourist attractions and, often, community icons. On the other, there are the countless smaller floating fountains and aerators located in golf-course ponds and water hazards, in municipal-park and stormwater ponds, on private estates and institutional campuses and in the bays of larger bodies of water, either as single features or as groups. For 45 years now, our firm has been fortunate enough to have designed (and at times installed) floating fountain systems across this full spectrum, from the large and spectacular to the small and surprisingly subtle. Some have been purely decorative, while others have been totally
The very existence of floating islands seems counterintuitive. Are there really chunks of earth solid enough to support our weight while drifting over the surface of a body of water? Can these floating masses even support the weight of trees, animals or even human dwellings? The fact is that floating islands do exist on six of the seven continents and sometimes on the oceans between. Some do have trees growing on them and do support the weight of humans (and even grazing cattle). Some are, in fact, hundreds of feet across and are called "home" by their inhabitants. These naturally occurring, waterborne vessels embody a fascinating subset of natural observation and are generally unknown - even though they
