Water adds more than life to a garden, it also adds atmosphere.
The peaceful, soothing sound of water trickling over rocks or out of a fountain; the myriad of reflections from clouds and other plants makes for a magic experience.
The decision to build a water garden should not be taken lightly.
There is a lot of planning required to make sure that your water garden ideas will truly turn out to be what you want.
The first things to consider are where you want the garden to be and does it fulfil these basic requirements:

• Does it get good sunlight?
• Is the ground reasonably level?
• Is the area open enough so that you will be able to enjoy the pond?
• Will it be too close to large trees and shrubs that will shed leaves and tress into the pond water?
• Are there any power lines, phone lines, gas pipes or water pipes that might be at risk if you dig in that particular spot?
• Will you want to add fish to the pond?

Of-course water features don't have to be dug into the ground.
You could make an above ground pond.
These can be made from all sorts of things from small terracotta pots to half wine barrels right up to purpose built ponds.
Generally above ground water gardens are placed where people can readily see them, like on a patio or deck or against a fence or wall.
It is a good idea to incorporate a wide lip around the pond for sitting on so that its contents can be readily admired.

1. The beauty of an in ground water garden, however, is that they look more natural.
   Things to remember when designing your inground water garden feature are these:
2. Don't make the lip of the pond level with the ground.
   Raise it up about an inch.
   Hide the edge from view by using edging materials like rocks and pebbles and low growing plants and creepers.
   
3. Grade the surrounding ground away from the water feature.
   This will encourage any run off to head away from your pond rather than into it.
   
4. Don't skimp on the quality of the pool liner.
   Soil is porous and if you don't use a liner you will be continually topping up your pool plus possibly causing damage to the surrounding area.
   A pool liner will prevent this.
   There are two main choices in the type of liner, flexible or hard shell.
   The flexible liner allows you to define the shape of your water feature.
   These are usually made of a durable heavy duty plastic or rubber compound.
   Hard shell liners are preformed into shapes like kidney or oval to name two.
   They often have spillway slots so you can run one pool into another and create a waterfall or stream effect.
   They are also longer lasting than flexible liners and less likely to e punctured.
   

Once you have your pool design in mind and have decided on the lining, you can then consider the many additions like pumps, fountains, plants and fish.
But before you do this, do your homework on these preliminary items and you will be well on the way to building a stunning water feature.