Pool Water Features
A water feature gives the pool something to look at and the backyard something to listen to. These water features earn their place: bubblers, deck jets, sheer descents, scuppers, and water bowls, each doing a different job.
Something to look at, something to listen to.
Every water feature answers two questions: what the pool looks like, and what the backyard sounds like. A bubbler on the sun shelf is barely audible from the patio. A six-foot sheer descent can cover a busy road. Start with the effect you want, and the choice narrows fast.
Where a feature lives matters just as much. Bubblers sit in the pool at your feet, deck jets arc across open water, and scuppers and sheer descents pour from a raised wall, which only works when the design includes one. Every feature is plumbed before the shell is poured, so the time to compare is while the pool is still on paper.
A small jet set into the floor of a sun shelf that pushes a low, churning fountain of water up through the surface. It stands a foot or two high and falls back on itself with a soft rolling sound, closer to a spring than a fountain. It is the only water feature that lives inside the pool at your feet, which is why children end up sitting in them for entire afternoons.
- Sound
- Low · the quietest
- Best for
- Young children, and life on the tanning ledge
- Needs
- A sun shelf in the design
A deck jet is a nozzle set flush into the pool deck that throws an arc of water across the open surface and into the pool. What you're buying is the arc itself: a visible line of water suspended in the air, usually one of several spaced evenly along a run of coping. Set in a row, they frame the pool the way a colonnade frames a courtyard.
- Sound
- Adjustable · splash to calm
- Best for
- Long, straight edges
- Needs
- Open water to arc across
A sheer descent pours a wide, unbroken sheet of water off a raised wall into the pool. The lip is a precision-molded channel built into the wall face, and what comes out is a clear curtain that arcs away from the wall before it lands. It is the loudest and most physically present of the water features: you see it from the house, you hear it across the yard, and children swim through it.
- Sound
- High · the loudest
- Best for
- Masking road noise
- Needs
- A raised wall
A pool scupper is a spout set into a raised wall that spills water into the pool below. Unlike a sheer descent, which hides its hardware, a scupper is meant to be seen: a cast or fabricated fixture in copper, bronze, brass, or stainless steel, mounted on the wall face like hardware you chose deliberately. Run three across a wall and you get three separate falls of water, evenly spaced, with the rhythm doing as much work as the water.
- Sound
- Moderate · conversational
- Best for
- Walls with architecture
- Needs
- A raised wall
A water bowl is a freestanding vessel that sits at the pool's edge and spills water over its lip into the pool below. It is the only water feature that's also an object: a piece of sculpture with a function, sized and finished the way you'd choose a planter or a fire pit. Most sit on a raised wall, a pedestal, or the coping itself, and many are made to hold fire as well as water.
- Sound
- Soft · a steady spill
- Best for
- A focal point
- Needs
- A wall, pedestal, or coping
FAQs
The questions we answer before nearly every design, in plain terms.
Do water features need their own pump?
Usually not, depending on the quantity of features. All typically can run off the pool's existing circulation and switch independently from the controller. What they do need is dedicated plumbing, run before the shell is poured.
Can a water feature be added after the pool is built?
No, not recommended. Every feature here is fed by dedicated plumbing that runs before the shell is poured, so the time to decide is while the pool is still on paper. Putting one into a finished pool means opening finished work: that is remodel work, priced as remodel work, not an upgrade you add on. Get the features you want onto the plan now.
Do I need a raised wall?
Only for scuppers and sheer descents. Scuppers and sheer descents pour from a raised structure, so if your design doesn't include one, the wall becomes part of the cost. Bubblers, deck jets, and water bowls all work without it.
What's the difference between a deck jet and a laminar?
The water, not the light. A laminar strips the turbulence and air out of the stream and pushes it through a precision nozzle, so it crosses the pool as a clear, solid rod instead of spraying into droplets. A standard jet does none of that and costs considerably less. Both can be lit.
Will a water feature raise my running costs?
Modestly. On variable-speed equipment they're inexpensive to run. A sheer descent moves real volume, so it increases evaporation and costs some heat off a warm pool, which is why every feature goes on the controller: you run it when you're outside.
Which brands does Oak Wells build with?
We build on Jandy equipment: TruFit bubblers, deck jets and laminars, and sheer descents in widths from eight inches to eight feet. Scuppers and water bowls come from specialty fabricators, chosen by material and finish.
Start your build
Ready to dive in?
Book a consultation with your local Oak Wells team. We bring the design expertise. You bring the backyard.
