ABSTRACT
This section covers water retaining construction such as lakes, ponds and formal pools, including the construction of simple low earth dams where these form part of the waterside banks. The design and construction of major dams retaining many thousands of tons of water are far outside the scope of the landscape designer, and are the province of the civil engineer who specializes in these structures. Dam design is very complex, and the result of even a small dam failure can be catastrophic, so the landscape designer would be well advised to avoid the construction of vertical dams and to contain the water by means of sloping earth embankments wherever possible (these do not suffer the same stresses as vertical dams) or to leave the design and construction to a civil engineering firm.
