By Barry Solomon , last updated March 3, 2011

Installing a water fountain pump is a fairly streamlined and simple project that can bring a welcome change to you lawn. Adding a water fountain to your yard or garden is a lovely touch that creates a nice look and feel to your property. This is a task that can be completed in about half a day and is relatively easy to do.

First select a site for your fountain not too far from an electrical outlet and dig a hole and install a rigid or flexible garden water liner into it. Trim around the edges with decorative rocks, paving stones, or even bricks for a complete look. Fill the water reservoir with your garden hose.

Now take your pump and install a flexible hose to the water outlet port. Make sure that it is attached tightly by using clamps or a zip strip, or, if it is threaded, screw it in firmly. Lower the pump into the pond and position a grate over it, being careful not to break the pump or pinch the hoses. Run the hose up vertically and now fill the pond with water from your garden hose. In order to work properly, the pump must be fully submerged.

Cut the upright hose to the right length, making sure that it is properly supported by a decorative piece or by rocks or tiling. If necessary, you can use a rigid PVC pipe to hold the tubing in place. Determine the type of fountain head you desire. There are many different sizes and styles and each will produce a different look to the water as it flows from your working fountain. Attach the fountain head to your hose or tube.

Making sure that the pond is now completely filled with water, plug the pump into your electrical outlet. When the pump begins to suck up water, keep adding more to be sure that the reservoir is completely full. Adjust the fountainhead as needed. Now your pump is installed and it will need little maintenance.

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Installing a Water Fountain Pump - Ask.com

CUMMING The Forsyth County Development Authority has decided to move forward with plans for a potential addition to the new county courthouse in downtown Cumming.

For the past few months, the authority has discussed the possibility of using some fees it receives from businesses to fund construction of a water fountain at the entrance to the five-story courthouse, which is slated for completion by early 2015.

The authority took an official vote during its regular meeting on Thursday morning to take steps to ensure the fountain project will be completed.

Citing the need to install the appropriate infrastructure, Chairman David Seago said the authority needed to take formal action on the project, which will include a 40-foot, curved fountain outside the entrance at a cost of about $130,000.

However, Seago said that infrastructure would cost more than originally anticipated. Due to the chemicals needed to keep it clear of algae and other microorganisms, a fountain cannot drain into standard storm or sanitary sewer. As a result, a special drainage and septic system is required.

But I have been assured that $19,000 is the worst-case scenario [for the system], so hopefully it wont be that much, Seago said.

Former authority chairman Bobby Thomas, who floated the idea of adding the fountain, made a motion to go ahead and have builders plan for the special drainage system.

In the meantime, other options that could cut down on costs such as possibly using different, safer additives in the fountain will continue to be explored.

Authority members have been looking to work with local civic groups, including Rotary clubs, on the project, which will also include decorative benches around the fountain.

Thomas suggested having Rotarians help pay for the additional costs of the fountain and have businesses or other groups sponsor the benches.

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Plan for fountain outside courthouse closer

A surveillance video of a two-year-old child nearly drowning has become a warning to parents to keep a close eye on your kids. This incident occurred at a Georgia mall last August when a toddler wandered off and climbed into a giant water fountain inside the mall. The toddler nearly drowned before being discovered and pulled out.

The video was shared by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Arnold Piedrahita, who said on Facebook, If me posting this video scares someone enough to install a pool gate then my job is done.

At the time, the toddlers mother was horribly distraught when she noticed her baby missing. The child was treated in the hospital and was on a breathing tube and confined to a wheelchair.

Watch the surveillance video below:

[h/t Local10] [photo via screengrab]

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Terrifying Video of Child Nearly Drowning Becomes Warning to Parents

ROWAN COUNTY -- A record number of families stayed at the Rowan Helping Ministries shelter Monday night.

Seven families and 11 children are calling the shelter home. It's a shelter that was designed for just 40 men not the 70-plus men, women and children it now houses regularly.

"We've had to use spaces that weren't originally designed as dorm areas, said executive director Kyna Grubb.

"I sleep by the water fountain, said Brian Cardenas, who has stayed at the shelter with his family for a month.

Each night, the offices become bedrooms, the table and chairs switched out for cots.

"We used every inch of space we had," Grubb said.

But in just a month, there will be much more space 30,000 square feet of it. Crews are wrapping up work on a new shelter just across the street.

It will be large enough to sleep a 124 people.

Organizers say there's no explanation behind Monday night's full house.

The ministry's new building is expected to begin services May 19.

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Record number of families stay in Rowan Co. shelter Monday night

A member of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue team in Florida recently released a surveillance video to warn parents about the dangers of not watching their kids.

The surveillance video (below) shows a two-year-old child, Alayna, in the Augusta Mall in Georgia, climbing over the wall of a fountain, falling in and nearly drowning before an older boy calls for help and a nurse pulls the toddler out of the water, noted Local 10.

Alayna's mom, Ashley Ishmael, was looking for her daughter in the mall's stores when the girl nearly drowned on Aug. 28, 2013.

"I was playing with her and then she had gotten up into the top part of the slide playing with two or three other kids," Ishmael told WRDW. "And next thing I know she was gone."

When Alayna was released about two months later, she was still in a wheelchair. A new Facebook page "Alayna's Angels" has been set up for people to help the child and her mother.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Arnold Piedrahita posted the video on his Facebook page, where he wrote: If me posting this video scares someone enough to install a pool gate then my job is done.

"I ran [upon] a 13-month-old boy who drowned in the family pool with 11 adults home at [the] time," Piedrahita added. "Everyone thought someone was watching the baby."

Sources: WRDW, Local 10, Facebook

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Toddler Almost Drowns in Mall Fountain (Video)

Many have seen their parents cope with job loss, and feel a greater need to perform well so they can get highly-paid jobs. This leads to raised stress levels, she says.

I think about this while watching my young niece play in a inter-school football tournament.

What she says rings true, yet for expats, the quality of life in Dubai is really great. Not only does the city work tirelessly to stay interesting, it offers good schools, infrastructure and safety.

Add to that the easily-available house help, relatively inexpensive real estate and petrol (currently about Rs 29 per litre), and not to forget, zero taxation, and it becomes easier to understand why living in Dubai is a little like a drug with a very, very good high.

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Boom or bubble? Unravelling the mirage that is DUBAI

In a corner of J. Hood Wright Park in Washington Heights, you will find a little getaway for dogs. It's also where you'll likely find the latest New Yorker of the Week. NY1's John Schiumo filed the following report.

Retired electrician Tony Speranza doesn't get paid to maintain a dog run inside J. Hood Wright Park, but he does whatever it takes to keep things running.

"It means the world to me," he says. "It means that the dogs in the neighborhood, my dogs, can run around, get recreation and play with each other, and basically be a dog for an hour a day."

Five years ago, the run was run down. Tony lobbied the Department of Parks and Recreation for funding, and he got it. It now has a stronger fence with a concrete foundation, a water fountain and better gravel for the dogs.

Tonys efforts didn't stop there. He doesn't own any dogs anymore, but he makes sure the run is in the best shape possible for his four-legged friends in the neighborhood. He addresses concerns at community board meetings and defends the run's presence in the park. There's a monthly breakfast and a costume party every Halloween. He's created a community in the Heights.

"Community merchants, dog owners, people in the community have a sense of pride about being together and working in a true collaborative way, and we owe that to Tony," says Janet Wise-Thomas, a friend of the J. Hood Wright Park Dog Run.

Of course, if you ask Tony, he says he doesn't do much at all.

"I change the garbage and clean up a little," he says.

Friends of the dog run, though, will agree to disagree.

"No, no, no. Tony's here every day making sure the dog run is kept up and maintained," says Jenny Goldstein, a friend of the J. Hood Wright Park Dog Run. "He's the reason that we have this beautiful dog run."

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NYer of the Week: Tony Speranza Maintains Dog Run Inside Manhattan Park

RALEIGH The N.C. Division of Coastal Management has awarded nearly $600,000 to eight town governments, including two in Carteret County, for projects to improve public access to coastal beaches and waters.

The list announced Thursday by Gov. Pat McCrory includes Atlantic Beach and Morehead City.

Atlantic Beach received $66,532 to replace and construct an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) -compliant walkway and dune crossover.

Morehead City was tapped for $200,000 for the construction of an open pavilion at an existing waterfront park known as Jib Plaza.

Local governments continue to show a tremendous interest in providing and improving public access to North Carolinas beaches and waters, Mr. McCrory said in a statement. I am thrilled that the state is able to help them achieve this goal.

Atlantic Beach plans to use the grant to rebuild the existing public beach access on Charlotte Avenue, extending it closer to the beach and making it ADA compliant. David Walker, town manager, said the existing wooden walkway there has steps rather than a ramp and isnt ADA compliant.

The town staff doesnt want to disrupt use of the walkway during the spring and summer seasons, so work on the access will begin after Labor Day. Another project, however, will begin this month.

Atlantic Beach had previously received a $33,630 CAMA grant Feb. 1, prior to the list announced Thursday, which it will be using to build a new boardwalk for the public water access on Money Island Drive. Mr. Walker said this project will be done this month and into May.

Meanwhile, Morehead City plans to use the $200,000, along with a $407,000, five-year, zero-interest loan from North Carolinas Eastern Region, the 13-county economic development agency based in Kinston, to cover the construction costs of the planned 6,000-square-foot platform over the water.

The deck is to be built directly south of the first phase of the project, the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament sculpture and fountain constructed in 2013 on the triangular or jib sail-shaped, city-owned parcel at the east end of Shepard Street.

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Two communities to receive CAMA grants

Last year, the Portland Water District announced the creation of a grant program that offers free water bottle-filling fountains to local entities. Twenty-six applications for grants were received, and the Board of Trustees awarded four water bottle filling stations to Saint Josephs College in Standish), the YMCA in Portland, Portland Transit Authority Portland, and Greely High School in Cumberland.

Saint Josephs College is the first recipient to install the station. The filling station in the busy Harold Alfond Center was fully operational as of Jan. 10. (In the 2012-2013 academic year more than 70,000 visitors used the facility.)

We are fortunate in Greater Portland to have a superb public water supply, stated Portland Water District board President Guy Cote. With these grants, we want to promote the areas great tap water and encourage others to help expand access to it.At Saint Josephs College, the Eco-Reps, a student group that promotes sustainable behavior, has embraced the fountain and is encouraging its use by subsidizing branded water bottles and T-shirts.

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Bottle filling station installed at St. Joes

Jon Horton leads the way through thick brush that covers an old city parks trail near Costilla Street. It's a hot summer day, and the shade of the trees and breeze off Shooks Run Creek provide a welcome respite. The area almost feels like a secret garden.

But a few steps in, the problems with this section of city parks, private and railroad property make themselves clear. Old clothes clog the creek, and by the time the trail dead-ends at an old stone railroad bridge, the trash is everywhere: clothes, broken TVs, shopping carts, decaying mattresses, tires.

There are campsites, too. Some are just mattresses; others tents, including one with a stroller sitting outside it. There are even primitive shelters made of branches and brush spread out across this yellow plain that runs behind the Lowell neighborhood and the downtown Police Operations Center.

Emerging from their shelters, people stare at us some curiously, a few aggressively. Horton, a 73-year-old bear of a man with an impressively bushy white mustache, leans down to my ear. If it makes me feel any better, he says, he has a gun.

It does.

This is Horton's regular walk. A disabled Vietnam vet, he lives nearby in subsidized housing.

"I volunteer to accompany people in my building to take walks with me, but their faces turn pale," he says. "It is considered a very dangerous place."

He isn't fazed. He was homeless once himself, and he feels for others, especially veterans, who have ended up on the streets. He's even built a rapport with some of the people here. But he doesn't care for the garbage that sullies the landscape and likely attracts vermin.

The vacant property, much of which is owned by 78-year-old Tom Doxey of Penrose, has been a problem as long as Tom Wasinger, Colorado Springs' Code Enforcement supervisor, can remember. It was cleaned fairly recently, but Doxey says it doesn't take long for the garbage and campers to return.

Until 2001, Doxey used the property to store materials for his asphalt company. But even in those days, he says, people would come here late at night, cut the fences, and dump their junk. Over the years, Doxey says, he's tried various barricades, even concrete blocks that weighed thousands of pounds, only to have them moved or destroyed.

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Why illegal dumping plagues the city