DESIGNER SHOWCASE - MOVING THE ROCKIES
By: Peter Spokus
WATER GARDEN NEWS, Magazine
JULY 2004
Bring the wild and rugged Rocky Mountains east to Tennessee! Sound impossible? Not to Autumn Mist Aquatics of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Richard Roach, owner of Tennessee Rand; a 28,000 square foot high tech robotic facility located in Chattanooga; wanted an awesome water feature in front of one of his commercial complexes that evoked memories of his hunting and fishing adventures out west in Montana.
The planned feature had several non-specific requirements that had to be met. It had to be very large, it had to be really awesome and it had to look totally natural.
Eighteen employees worked full time for 11 weeks; laying the ground work for an aquatic plant pond, an upper pond, a two section mountain stream and a large lower pond that lead to the placement of 260 tons of mountain stone and beautiful large boulders, covered in moss and lichens.
138 tandem truckloads of fill dirt and top soil created a large hill rising up nearly twenty-two feet in elevation with 17 tandem truckloads of mulch to protect the freshly exposed soil until landscaping could be completed. The project used 5,916 square feet of 45 mil EPDM flexible rubber liner and a non woven geotextile underlayment fabric as well as 847 feet of 3-inch flexible PVC pipe.
The Rocky Mountain water feature is 320 feet long, rising a total of eighteen feet in elevation with more than 54,500 gallons of total water capacity.
Primary filtration is provided by four Savio sixteen inch Skimmerfilters set side by side, complete with four Savio fifty-seven watt ultra-violet sterilization units. Autumn Mist Aquatics says that they wanted to specifically use the Savio brand for this particular project because everyone tends to agree that Savio is by far the best skimmer on the market; however; nearly all of them mistakenly think Savio is useful only in small to moderate residential systems. "I wanted to show everyone that the Savio system is so versatile, that if a water feature were properly designed, Savio could easily handle a large commercial grade system like this.
For additional filtration purposes, a 1,500 gallon aquatic plant pond polishes the water after being fed through four Savio Livingponds Waterfall Filters that directly feed the main 21,300 gallon per hour waterfall with its 66-inch drop into the 8,500 gallon upper pond.
The water then cascades over another waterfall which leads to the main streambed. The stream contains a series of shallow pools and three more major waterfalls, including a unique oak log waterfall feature feeding into the 37,200 gallon lower pond. The design called for two separate sections for the stream, an upper section with an awesome series of white water rapids tumbling through several huge boulders and a lower section that was considerably slower, wider and deeper and allowed the water to cruise along at a lazy pace. Twisting and turning its way through some old dead snags and tree stumps, the stream bank looked like some of its trees had died and fallen across the water but in fact they were carefully and strategically placed for the final touches that made this system appear so completely natural in every conceivable aspect.
There are even a couple of sand bars and gravel banks that appear to have been deposited on the outside sweeping edges of the lower stream during simulated minor flooding or high water flows, just like you would expect to see in a real stream if you were out hiking through the woods.
A total water surface area of 5,624 square feet is maintained by a Savio electronic solenoid water leveling system and circulated at the rate of 355 gallons per minute by way of four Sequence 7200 self-priming pumps as the water feature passes through a landscape that provides the final piece of the puzzle in delivering the Rocky Mountain concept to the client. Indigenous mountain plants from the western part of the United States, including white pine, hemlock, mountain laurel and rhododendron, will be used to transform this small piece of Tennessee into a little slice of Montana.
Was Autumn Mist Aquatics successful in their attempt? "This is absolutely awesome and so much more than I ever expected or anticipated; the attention to detail is unbelievable" Roach says. "The only drawback is that I have to come to the office to enjoy it, instead of having the water feature in my own back yard," since the water feature sits in front of the main entrance to his corporate complex. The shear magnitude of this project would make one believe that it would be a maintenance nightmare; however; the Savio system requires a very minimal amount of maintenance once every two weeks.
PROJECT UPDATE:
After nearly five full years of operation, three significant observations were made: (1) the landscape had completely and fully filled in which makes the water feature look even more awesome than before;
(2) a full range of ecosystem inhabitants had taken up residency here; from salamanders, frogs and turtles; to shore birds and small mammals; and (3), (for all those critics out there); the Savio filtration system that was initially installed in this project, had this water feature running so clean and clear that you could throw a dime into the seven foot deep main pond bottom and clearly tell if it were heads or tails. That alone speaks volumes of how Savio quality equipment and superior components can make a significant difference in the design of any custom water feature system.
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