The evaporation process can leave your fountain thirsty. It is most pronounced in the summer when the heat from the sun is intense. Over a week, you may experience a loss of water between 1 to 2 inches in a hot, dry summer. With the addition of direct wind, the process becomes more rapid.
Now you may wonder how to protect the water of your fountain from drying out. We have discussed here in detail how to keep fountain water from evaporating.
Naturally, evaporation is high in hot, dry weather. During colder days evaporation occurs at a slower rate. Evaporation depends mainly on the factors such as temperature, humidity, wind, elevation or pressure, and surface area.
Under normal conditions, you cannot control these natural factors and decrease the evaporation rate. However, we can apply some popular man-made methods to lessen or prevent fountain water from evaporating,
7 Ways To Keep Fountain Water From Evaporating
1) Create Shades by Planting Trees
Get shades for your water fountain by growing shade-friendly plants near your fountain. Also, the shading from the trees will help create a barrier to UV light. It may thus, significantly lessen the evaporation rate in your water fountain.
You may also choose plants that float on water, or perennials, waterside shrubs, grasses, and more. It also makes the area a lot more attractive.
2) Create Windbreakers by Trees
With windbreakers, you can reduce air movement over the surface of the fountain water. It results in a lessened evaporation rate.
You can install windbreakers by simply planting trees near the fountain. Some well-known aquatic plants to plant around the edges are the iris, manna grass, and pickerel rush. They help cast shade and prevent some of the wind.
You may also choose evergreen trees or shrubs to avoid mess and regular cleaning of leaves from the fountain area.
3) Use Floating Plants
Floating plants that have large leaves are some of the best options when you want to minimize evaporation from the fountain body. These plants cover the surface of the water.
Water lettuce, lilies, hyacinths, and duckweed are some of the popular choices. You can have at most 60 percent of the water surface covered by plants.
To maintain these plants, you may need to provide fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro. They also do not respond well to a continuous splash of water. So remember to plant them in the least busy area of the fountain basin.
4) Minimize the Surface Area
Evaporation happens on the surface area. So if the surface area is big or wide, it will observe quicker evaporation.
We know liquids do not have shapes. So if water is spread into a wide area, this means the surface area has a large number of liquid molecules than an area that is smaller.
It means that more liquid molecules will break away and become gas from a wider area. This also means an increase in the rate of evaporation.
It is, therefore, best to keep the area smaller if it is not a necessity. If you want to minimize the evaporation rate, make sure to minimize the surface area of your fountain basin.
5) Reduce Splashing
The splashing of water can lead to an increase in the evaporation rate. So it is recommended to reduce the splashing.
To do that you can maintain the following
- Check the fountain level. If it is uneven or tilted, the fountain will cause more splashing.
- A fountain with too little or too much water will also splash. So, it is best to keep the water half full or more. It should not be more than 1 and 1/2 inches from the fountain’s rim.
- You may also use a screen at the bottom of the fountain basin to reduce splash. The screen helps in preventing the up-splash.
- Another way you can control the splashes is by adjusting the fountain force.
- Use smooth rocks at the bottom of the fountain to prevent splashing.
6) Use Tint or Dye
You may use blue-colored dye to reduce evaporation. The bright dye helps reflect the incoming harsh UV rays and thus reduces the evaporation rate.
Get this dye in aqua blue or ocean blue colors. The aquatic blue dye treatment controls algae and weeds and slows evaporation. The dye is safe for swimming, fish, aquatic plants, fish, drinking water, and more.
7) Build a Fence or Trellis
Adding a fence or a trellis at one side of the fountain could help block afternoon sunlight by creating a shed. This could help reduce the evaporation rate significantly, as we know hot afternoon sunlight causes the most evaporation.
You may add flowering plants, especially vine plants, to grow up along the trellis or fence. Building a low wall instead of a fence would also do. Once again, you may include a pergola if it complements your fountain design.
Finally, if you can move your fountain to a shaded area from direct sunlight, you can evaporate fountain water easily.
Conclusion
It is not possible to control the natural factors which cause water loss from the fountain. A simple solution to reduce the evaporation rate is the use of sheds. It is one of the best ways to keep fountain water from evaporating.
The simplest way to build sheds around the fountain is by planting trees and shrubs or building fences. Apart from that, try to minimize the splashing level of the fountain. We have also discussed using blue dye. However, it is not confirmed whether a fountain’s continuous splashing and water flow will affect its effectiveness.
