Water Playground for Autistic Son

Carl Petite • April 14, 2025

Water Playground for Autistic Adult

Water fountain cascading over rocks, with bowls, in a yard with a wooden fence and grass.

This is a heartwarming project for us.

We received the call for a waterfall consultation and met with the client that afternoon. As always, I ask a lot of questions, take many pictures, and try to catch the client’s vision. But what unfolded was more than I ever could have expected.

A very important part of our sales process is making sure all the decision makers are present during the consultation. That ensures that we have a clear picture of what is to be installed in the budget that the client can afford. But when I met with the client, she was alone.

Ok, that happens, but I didn’t draw attention to that. After all, most of the decisions are made by the wife anyway (I’m in sales mode right now). After talking to her, she volunteered she was a widow.

So young to be a widow, I was thinking. It turns out that her husband, a career police officer had died of heart conditions leaving her and their autistic son behind.

This is where the story turns even more interesting . It turns out that the autistic son has a fixation on water ! He loves to play and splash in water and her present yard became a mudpit daily. Mud would go everywhere as he would play in the water. On him, the patio, and inside. It was everywhere.

So, I hatched the idea to create an aquatic playground that he could splash in, play with water, and most importantly be safe.

Here are the components of this project and the thoughtfulness behind everything we did.

1. We created an extra large reservoir to hold the water and the 4 pumps that power this feature.

2. We created an extra large splash pad that extended beyond the water feature to catch splash and protect the play area from falling apart.

3. Spillway bowls. I toyed with several options here from modified resin patio ponds, to large concrete bowls from the local fountain supplier. I settled on the Aquascape spillway bowls as I have installed many of them during my 10 year tenure as a Master Certified Aquascape Contractor – (we are no longer in the CAC program, but that’s not the story I’m telling right now).

4. Small waterfall. The client wanted a small waterfall for her son to play in that had a little pooling area.

5. Fountains. The fountains are very interesting. They have a very low profile on purpose so that the water doesn’t interfere with the play area but he can put his hand on the fountain head and spray the water. These bubblers turned out to be one of his favorite play spots before we added……

6. Oase Jumping Jets. Sadly, these have been discontinued by Oase. Personally, I can’t imagine why, and I hope the manufacturer replaces them with something cool. Fortunately for the client, they were able to get them – becoming one of the last installations for this product line (for now).

Overall, I feel that we did really great with this water feature that offers so much for such a small space. Everything is surrounded by artificial turf to keep mud at bay and locked in with concrete so that it doesn’t fall apart with play time.

It got me thinking…. Why wouldn’t someone want a version of this in their yard?

Overall project cost came out under $15,000.00 including upgrades, and installation took a little longer than normal due to the amount of plumbing and detail work that went into the project. If we were to re-create this project, I’d expect it to take about 90 man hours plus or minus normal delays. We don’t disclose the exact price because everyone’s access and location for the water feature is different, but I can say that in 2025 we would confidently quote this well under 15k.

Figuring our overhead rate of 150.00 per man hour times 90 man hours, that comes to $13,500.00 Adding in the cost of materials such as liner, underlayment, spillway bowls, fountain heads, pumps, plumbing, rocks, concrete, automatic fill valve, and more – I’d say this is a pretty good deal and should cost more.

If you would like to see something like this in your yard, reach out to us via the contact form on our website and let’s talk!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed reading the story behind this project and whether you are a contractor or a homeowner, I hope this has left you inspired to build a water playground like this in your yard.

Be sure to leave your comments below and check out the video on this project in our YouTube channel at Columbia Water Gardens.

Happy ponding!

Carl Petite, Owner

Master Pond Builder

HERE'S A LINK TO THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!

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By Carl Petite • January 2, 2026

It’s that time of year for Spring Cleaning again! Every year our staff at Columbia Water Gardens goes to work in the Spring cleaning ponds and waterfalls. Why do we choose to do this in early Spring? There are many great reasons, but overall, we have found that performing a spring cleaning this time of year has been met with great success. Here’s what’s happening in your pond right now. The biology is very slow due to the cold water. That means all the sludge and winter decomposition from leaves and other organic matter isn’t being consumed by beneficial bacteria. This sludge is a food source for algae. The kind of algae that creates “pea soup” water conditions and string algae. Algae is also less active in cold water – just like your ecosystem. Large plants are not consuming nutrient, algae (a plant) is not consuming nutrient, it’s all very quiet. Then, like it always happens every year, we have a couple of cold snaps and spring weather is on us in Southern California. This happens like clockwork somewhere in the middle of February. This spring weather warms up your pond and wakes up your ecosystem fast. Your ecosystem is hungry, and the more nutrient there is in the pond, the faster your plants grow. All of them, including algae. So, why do we clean the ponds before this happens? It’s simple. Cleaning the pond removes the food source for the algae, thereby starving it out. Here’s how this happens… As the larger plants like water lilies and other plants wake up for the spring they are hungry with a larger appetite than algae, and they consume the tiny bit of nutrient that’s left after the cleaning, thereby eating more food than algae can. This is great for your pond’s health, the entire ecosystem, and of course your koi. Maintaining optimum water quality this time of year gives you the upper hand for the rest of the year. Finally, deferred maintenance creates a greater problem, it costs more to clean, and puts your pets at risk. And if your pond was cleaned since July of last year, it still needs a spring cleaning. Getting in the habit of having us clean your pond in the spring is the best thing you can do for your pond. Here’s what we do: Columbia Water Gardens will provide the following 14 point service: 1. Drain water feature 2. Set up quarantine for your fish (if applicable) 3. Drain, Rinse & Pond Refill 4. Pond Sludge Rinsing and Draining 5. Pressure wash rocks & gravel from the waterline up 6. Thin out overgrown plants 7. Removal of excess debris and leaves 8. Fish Health Check 9. Water Quality Inspection 10. Lighting Check 11. Pump Maintenance Inspection 12. Pond Filters Cleaning/Inspection 13. Adjust Rocks 14. Metered refill, add water treatments *AVERAGE COST OF ANNUAL CLEANING $900.00 *Average cost of annual cleaning is based on 3 hours billed. We charge $150.00 per man, per hour, for cleanings with a 2 person crew. Cleaning time includes setup and cleanup. This covers overhead costs like equipment, labor, tools, etc. Bare minimum for pond cleanout, pondless waterfall cleaning or fountain cleaning if 2 hours or less is $600.00. Acid baths require muriatic acid to try and clean up hard water or overly chlorinated stains on rock. Acid baths are not a guarantee solution, but in some cases help and are an additional charge. Please consider the Ion Gen to eliminate string algae and the Automatic Dosing System. These two products combined with proper filtration provide stunning results. The Ion Gen is $695.00 installed at the time of a cleanout. HERE’S THE DEAL!! If you register for your spring cleaning before January 5, 2026 and pre pay, we will apply a 10% discount and you will have priority servicing. That means you will get to coordinate a date between now and April 30th 2026 with our team. To make it easy for you, we accept all major credit cards. Simply contact us with the link below and we will call you and schedule your cleaning.