Now it’s time to start filling the pond. Obviously, the smaller the pond, the quicker the fill. A pond the size of ours took quite a while, and while it was filling we used the time to disperse the liner evenly so that you don’t get a lot of large folds. You’re bound to get some folds but if you work on smoothing them out as the water is going in the end result will be a nicer appearance. If you have to make any moves to even out the overlap, do it before too much water is added because it gets heavy fairly quickly and once the weight of the water takes over you won’t be moving anything. As the pond fills and the liner conforms to the shape of the hole and you see that your overlap around the edges is looking pretty good, then you can start to relax because the hard part is done. Easy sailing? That’s next!
After the pond is filled, cut off the excess liner you have around the perimeter, leaving yourself a foot or so around the whole edge of the pond. (NOTE) If you intend to have a waterfall, you should add the area that it will take to LINE THE WATERFALL to the dimensions of your pond liner and cut the additional area as a part of the liner. The idea here is to keep ALL the liner in one piece. If you have to use an extra piece of liner for the waterfall, then make sure it is positioned properly so that all the water pumped to the top of the waterfall flows back into the pond.
Just a few words about waterfalls. The sound of splashing water is comforting, and if you do decide to put a waterfall in, you won’t want to be without it. For our waterfall I made a fairly large mound of dirt behind the pond, approximately in the center. I purchased a large tub with a spout in it (available at Lowes or Home Depot, etc.) and placed it on a leveled area in the aforementioned dirt pile, with the spout toward the pond and angled slightly down. As the water fills the tub it runs out of the spout and into the pond. As you can see in the picture, you can’t see this tub reservoir because I have placed rocks around and on top of it to make it look natural. With
How To Build A Beautiful Backyard Pond © Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved the water running over the stones it really does look like a natural waterfall.