Building a pondless with stream from existing dry creek

[ChadTheNomad]

Greetings everyone.

I've recently had a fairly significant amount of landscaping work, and one of the features was the installation of about a 20' dry creek that snakes from the edge of our property down roughly a 30 degree slope.

The reason for the dry creek was concern of erosion around our retaining wall. I had asked our architect about making a water feature out of it, but at the time he wasn't very receptive to the idea.

So, I'm now investigating it on my own. It seems to me a perfect spot for a pondless (we love ponds, but really think a pondless is best for us for now; the look and sound is more important to us) with a long stream down the hill and a few waterfalls along the way.

I have attached a picture of the yard along with the patio and the dry creek. Can anyone tell me if there are any serious reasons why I couldn't just turn this into a water feature?

Thanks!

 

[DrCase]

looks very nice...you would need a linner under the creek,,,and a pond or reservoir at the bottom.....and a pump with a good head volume

 

[DrDave]

Without a pond, you will need a good reservoir and a float switch to protect the pump moter should you have water loss.

 

[kirscp]

Like DrCase and DrDave said, you will need something to hold water on the bottom. Some type of liner to keep the water from soaking into the dirt. Pump the water from the bottom to the top and it will run down. There will be evaporation, so you'll want to keep an eye on the water level, or get a flow switch like DrDave suggested. Fairly simple, just some work moving the rocks.

 

[ChadTheNomad]

Thanks everyone.

There is a "fabric" of some kind (I don't actually know what it is, sorry) below the rocks right now. Would I only need to install the pond liner on the reservoir at the very bottom? Wouldn't the water that's pumped to the top soak into the ground too much? I could always use some of the waterfall foam in the areas where the water appears to be getting below the rocks.

If I don't have to do that, then this seems like a fairly reasonable project for me to take on.

Thanks again!

 

[DrCase]

the linner would need to be under every part off the stream...and over lap into the pond or resivoir...

 

[ChadTheNomad]

Ok, that's what I thought. That's a bit more effort, but still manageable I think.

My intentions/hopes were to put a few waterfalls along the way, and a final one right before the reservoir. I'd like to put a small fountain in the middle.