Ed Beaulieu, vice president of field research and contractor development at Aquascape, Inc. in St. Charles, Illinois, designed and built an underground rainwater catchment system with a pond and waterfall for popular YouTuber, Kevin Espiritu of Epic Gardening. Kevin uses his expansive garden to teach people how to grow their own food. Proper irrigation for his southern California location is an ongoing challenge and the new Aquascape rainwater harvesting system helps solve this problem while providing Kevin the opportunity to explore the uses and benefits of aquatic plants.
To create the system, a sub-surface 3,000-gallon reservoir was installed beneath a permeable stone patio to capture and store rainwater which feeds the waterfall and pond while providing irrigation for the property, when needed. The stored rainwater is pumped to a BioFalls® Filter at the top of the waterfall and cascades over a series of large boulders before entering an ecosystem pond. The pond is 20’ long x 13’ wide with a total volume of approximately 2,000 gallons, bringing the entire system volume to 5,000 gallons. Twenty tons of local boulders and 15,000 pounds of river rock and gravel were incorporated to complete the water feature project.
“Southern California is an arid environment with a short rain season,” states Beaulieu. “The goal of this project was to capture rainwater and store it in an underground reservoir. Kevin is now able to utilize the captured water in and around the property while keeping a wide variety of aquatic plants and fish within the system. Fish waste and dissolved nutrients in the water provide an ideal source of water for his garden.”
Kevin enjoys new opportunities within the gardening world and having access to water opens an entirely new list of plants to explore. In addition, he plans to grow tilapia for consumption, a nutrient dense food source that pairs well with a sustainable water feature. Kevin is an established garden blogger with a podcast and popular YouTube channel, Epic Gardening, with over 1.5 million subscribers. A few local Certified Aquascape Contractors helped with the pond project.
To watch the multi-part water feature installation, visit Ed The Pond Professor on YouTube.
For more information about Aquascape and our full line of water feature products, visit aquascapeinc.com or call 866/877-6637 (US) or 866/766-3426 (CAN).
