Special Feature By Deb Roth and Steven Cox
Going With the Flow
Employing the proper pumps a vital component in creating eye-catching water features
J
ack Klein has a colorful, and apt, way of describing the topography of the East Coast of South Florida as it abuts the Atlantic Ocean: “We don’t have any rocks down here, we’re as flat as a pancake.” No rocks mean
no hills, no valleys — and no waterfalls. Enter Bob Heartsong. Originally from Naperville, Ill.,
Heartsong moved to the Miami area nearly 30 years ago. In his search for work, he found employment as a construction- crew laborer for a company that renovated swimming pools so that they would look more like natural lagoons. In this line of work Heartsong found his muse and developed a knack for designing water features. In 1985 he opened Heartsong Ponds & Waterfalls, Inc. (now HeartSong Water- Scapes, Inc.). In that time, Heartsong — often with the assistance of
Klein, owner/operator of Jack Klein Associates (JKA) and its subsidiary Klein Pump — estimates that he has designed and constructed more than 800 water features in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties — from small backyard koi ponds to massive multi-waterfall entrances that are lo- cated at some of the area’s most desirous housing and golfing communities. None of the water features that HeartSong, or any other
company in the industry, create can come into being with- out hundreds of hours being devoted to their design and op- eration. Although the breathtaking vistas that are created grab all of the attention, that “wow” factor wouldn’t be pos- sible if not for the performance of the equipment that the viewing public never sees. For example, the key components at the heart of any water feature are the pumps that keep the water flowing continuously and trouble free. For nearly three decades now, the pump style of choice
for HeartSong WaterScapes has been centrifugal pump tech- nology, which Heartsong was introduced to by Klein. “What I wanted in a pump was a lot of volume, any-
where between 1,000 and 2,000 gallons per minute per pump,” said Heartsong.
22 Landscape and Irrigation March 2011
Centrifugal pumps are a top choice for meeting the needs of water feature con- struction and operation because they are engineered for flexibility, durability and versatility, with a number of design innovations over the years helping increase the pumps’ performance in all of those areas. All photos courtesy of Griswold Pump Company
www.landscapeirrigation.com
