Request an Estimate
Pool Waterfalls & Grottos
Transform Your Backyard with Cascading Luxury
A Stunning & Functional Water Feature
A custom pool waterfall or grotto turns your backyard into a serene escape, blending sight, sound, and movement to create a resort-style oasis. Whether it’s the natural beauty of a stacked stone waterfall, the sleek elegance of a sheer descent, or the hidden retreat of a grotto with built-in seating, these features enhance your pool’s ambiance while promoting relaxation and aesthetic appeal. At California Pools & Landscape, we design each water feature with premium materials, ensuring a seamless integration with your pool, spa, and outdoor space. Whether you’re looking for a relaxing escape, a high-impact design, or a playful addition for family fun, we’ll help you find the perfect fit for your backyard and budget.
What Is a Pool Waterfall?
A pool waterfall is a decorative water feature where water flows from an elevated surface into the pool. This adds natural beauty, a soothing sound, and a cooling effect while enhancing water circulation. Beyond their beauty, waterfalls and grottos bring a sense of peace and tranquility to your outdoor space. The gentle sound of cascading water creates an atmosphere of calm and serenity, making your backyard the perfect place to unwind after a long day. Whether you’re sitting poolside with a morning coffee or enjoying a peaceful evening under the stars, the soothing ambiance of falling water enhances the experience year-round.
Classic Rock Waterfall
A timeless, nature-inspired design featuring stacked rocks and lush landscaping. Water cascades gently over textured stone, blending seamlessly with your pool's surroundings.
Sheer Descent Waterfall
A sleek, modern waterfall where water flows in a smooth, uninterrupted sheet, creating a clean, elegant look. Ideal for contemporary pool designs, this feature enhances both aesthetics and water flow.
Waterfall Slides, A Splash of Fun for the Whole Family.
A waterfall slide brings excitement and adventure to your backyard. Combining the beauty of a cascading waterfall with the thrill of a waterslide, this feature creates a resort-style experience right at home. Waterfall slides can be integrated into rock formations or grottos, blending seamlessly into the poolscape. Whether it's a gentle, winding slide for younger kids or a steeper descent for thrill-seekers, this feature ensures endless fun while maintaining a polished, high-end look. From family pool parties to relaxing weekend afternoons, a waterfall slide adds energy, excitement, and lasting memories to your outdoor space.
What Is a Grotto?
A grotto is a cave-like structure built into your pool, creating a secluded, shaded retreat with water cascading over the entrance. It serves as a private escape within your backyard, providing a relaxing, resort-style feel. Grottos can be designed for pure relaxation or adventure, with options like a built-in bench for a tranquil hideaway, integrated slides for extra fun, and LED Lighting for a dramatic nighttime effect.
Organic Grotto
An organic grotto blends seamlessly with nature, using textured rock formations and cascading waterfalls to create a secluded, cave-like retreat. This design mimics a natural hideaway, offering cool shade, peaceful water sounds, and a private escape from the sun.
Modern Grotto
A modern grotto takes a more polished approach, using travertine, stacked stone, or smooth, sculpted finishes in monochrome tones like white, silver, or charcoal. A modern grotto delivers elegance and functionality, serving as both a stunning focal point and a peaceful retreat.
All Great Builds Start With a Conversation
Whether you need an estimate, funding, or inspiration from our award winning designers, we're ready to roll our sleeves up and start building your dream space. If you're not quite ready... keep scrolling!
What Is a Rain Sheer?
A rain sheer creates a curtain-like effect of falling water, often installed on shade structures, pergolas, or pool overhangs. It produces a gentle, high-volume cascade that enhances both visual appeal and relaxation. Rain sheers are a popular choice for modern pools, adding a sleek, high-end look that complements pergolas and shaded lounge areas.
How Rain Sheers Compare to Sheer Descent Waterfalls
Rain sheers and sheer descent waterfalls both add movement, sound, and style to your pool, but they create different effects. Rain sheers produce a high-volume, cascading water effect that mimics natural rainfall, making them a bold, eye-catching feature. In contrast, sheer descent waterfalls create a smooth, continuous sheet of water, offering a sleek, modern look with a controlled, elegant flow. While rain sheers enhance high-impact designs with dramatic movement, sheer descents provide a more refined architectural aesthetic, making them perfect for contemporary pools.
Designed for Your Backyard
A pool waterfall or grotto isn’t just about looks—it should be effortless to enjoy. Our energy-efficient designs use variable-speed pumps to optimize water flow while reducing energy consumption. Smart automation lets you control water features and lighting with ease, while LED lighting adds a dramatic touch without increasing energy costs. Whether it’s a gentle cascade or a bold waterfall, our technology ensures beauty, efficiency, and low maintenance for your outdoor retreat.
See What Our Customers Are Saying
Ted M.
From the day I choose CA Pools & Landscape through project completion, I have always been impressed. They are a TRUE Design-Build team with open communication and transparency. This ensures the customer is always up to speed with any changes. Steve R (Design), Steve D (Construction) along with Jordan, Gabe (Startup) are amazing with their approach. Sara D is the glue that binds it all together. With all the trades involved and ever changing decisions (mostly from me), she was instrumental in keeping the process moving. From initial design to a finished pool, spa landscape package built in less than 2.5 months is Amazing! I will highly recommend them to anyone in need.
aram delke
Jacob is great, very patient and always followed up.
Brett Casaccio
I got a pool and putting green with California Pools, they did an AMAZING job with the entire project. It did take some time, but it was worth the wait in the end!
Chris Black
Shelly Freund Smith is SO happy to be working at CA Pools. She loves her job and the people who work there. She has such a positive attitude and speaks highly of the company and fellow employees. I personally recommend CA pools just because she is so enthusiastic about the company. Yea, Shelly!!!
Jan Topp
CP designed and built our pool several years ago. We love it! On the rare occasion we have had a seal go bad or pump problems, we have been very happy with the service. They return calls or emails promptly and have someone at our residence within 24-48 hours. They follow up after the service to make sure we are satisfied and that everything is working. I strongly recommend California Pools!
Mark N.
Love our new pool and back yard. California pools staff helped us all the way with great design ideas and site layout. The installation was handled on schedule, the crews that came to the house were professional and good to deal with. Harscape crew was awesome and the landscaping crew helped us with ideas for other parts of our yard. The tile work was amazing and everyone worked very hard to stay on schedule. Cannot say enough good things about the process and the results!
Poppa Rob
We did as most customers do and shopped around before ultimately choosing California Pools. We had a few communication issues with our initial design before it was finalized but overall we had a great experience with California Pools. Our project looks amazing and family and friends all mention the great workmanship of the pool, the Ramada and the travertine deck. The entire Cal Pools team was great but there are a few individuals who we must mention. Thank you to Grace Johnson for the assistance, direction and patients in getting our project financed. Even though our project started the day after Thanksgiving we had no major delays. Scheduling through the entire process was easy since Myra Olson kept us in the loop and constantly informed from the onset of the project. It was great to be able to send her an email with questions or concerns and receive a response immediately almost every time. All the crews were very friendly and professional but we have to acknowledge Matt and the masonry crew. Julio and his team did an excellent job with the masonry portion of the Ramada and an excellent job with the travertine paver decking. Great, great attention to detail. We would be remiss if we didn't mention our project manager Pete Barrera. He made himself so accessible and returned calls and emails without hesitation. He dealt with every question or concern we had and that made this experience that much better. I'm sure he had other projects to deal with but he always made us feel like our project was his priority. The fact that he visited the site almost daily even if just for a few minutes helped minimize the number of items on the punch list. Thank you! We definitely recommend California Pools
John Panepinto
We started our process contacting 5-6 pool companies. Cal pools was the first company we contacted and our designer was Christopher Robinson. He had a design and prices within a couple hours. Contacted the other companies and no one even had a design within a week let alone prices for me. Chris was absolutely fantastic in every way possible. Any change we made he would have a new design and price almost immediately. There was a lack of communication in the middle of the build where we couldn’t get a hold of the construction manager or scheduler, I contacted Chris and he said that wasn’t right and he made sure someone reached out to me the very next day. They switched our schedule coordinator after that to a lady named Vina Ortega. Vina was a superstar for us. Her communication, knowledge, and all around customer service was top notch. Both Chris and Vina seemed genuinely happy for our family. I would highly recommend Cal pools. We are happy customers. Thank You!
VIA3 Corp
We had shopped around, and working with a tight budget, California Pools & Landscape were the only ones willing to work with what we had. The sales person, Mort, was so helpful, and made this project much easier than we expected. We loved the 3D pictures that he provided as we were designing the pool. That made it so much easier to imagine, and nailed it dead on. We were able to get more than what we thought we would be able to afford, and have to say that the entire family was happy. Choosing the colors I thought was going to be difficult, but Mort made it a family event. Coming out with samples, taking us outside with a glass bowl of water, we were able to get a feel of how the different finishes would look. (Have to say a BIG thanks to Mort for standing outside with us that day, it was 114 degrees) From the start, Steve the project supervisor, came out and explained what the process was going to be. The communication between myself and everyone I dealt with at California Pools couldn't have been better. After each process, Steve came out to make sure that the work was done properly. We really appreciated the attention that they gave to the quality of the work being done, making sure every step was completed correctly. We have been enjoying our California Pool for 1 month now, and the kids are enjoying it every day. We would like to express our thanks to California Pools for working with us, knowing we were on a budget, and making our backyard enjoyable for family.
Kandace Price
We had an error message pop up on our screen regarding our salt cell which we clean regularly the first of every month. Called Cal Pools it did take 3 weeks to get an appointment but when Alan came out he was professional and very informative! While we had been cleaning the salt cell every month with the pressure hose but we were not letting it soak in muric acid as he showed me how to do. This was something that was not told to us upon the initial review of the system. He replaced it and made sure everything was working great and he was impressed on how well we have taken care of the pool except for this little mishap and for that there was no charge for the replacement and trip out. Though going over the system with him was very informative, i video taped the first initial review of all the working parts but several things were not spoken of/discussed at that time. I recommend doing a yearly review with customers to make sure everything is going well. Big shot out to Alan!
JR Wall
We couldn't be happier with the completed pool installed by Cal Pools. Granted, it took some time, with material shortages, labor challenges and weather, but the pros at Cal Pools didn't waiver from their commitment to us to deliver a professionally installed pool. The contractors showed up on time, cleaned up as the worked and treated our property as their own. We were referred to Cal Pools by our good friends. This is our 5th pool build and we were pretty sure we knew what we wanted. David Love, our designer, laid out exactly what we described. This is NO PLAY POOL. 26' wide, 48' long and 3.5'-10' deep with an elevated diving board. 67,000 gallons of water. We highly recommend Cal Pools and if you have an option, choose David Love for design. He also has a great sense of humor.
Stan Chaput
I wish to express my thanks and gratitude for the service quality I experienced from dealing with California Pools and especially Leslie Gallegos and to Todd the Technichan. Their efforts in response, communication and professional repair are commendable. My compliments to the company, and these two individuals who represent the company.
T D.
My Dream Pool - Polynesian Paradise in AZ! I obtained three quotes before deciding to move forward with California Pools to build my dream pool, and I have absolutely no regrets. One of the many important aspects of trusting a pool company with my yard and money was the requirement of excellent communication. When obtaining quotes, the other pool companies did not follow up with me or did so far too late after on-site visits and lots of my time invested; however, from the very beginning of the initial pool design and layout (Thank you to the late, Scott Greenbank) every aspect of getting the pool built I was informed each and every step of the way, whether is was the scheduling of various stages, or even delays. The CPL app was an excellent resource to keep me up to date on everything and when I needed extra details or information, Alex Barone-Jay was always there with an answer for me in a timely manner as were the friendly staff in the Queen Creek Office. In fact, each person associated with my pool build was an expert in their craft and it was fun and fascinating to watch it come to life over several months. I struck gold with having Adam Redding as my Pool Supervisor/Superintendent. Adam is knowledgeable and personable and ensured to follow up on all the stages of the build and for those reasons I never worried about anything! The end result was exactly what I wanted and dreamed of for the pool. It was a pleasure and I'm so grateful to California Pools for not only this pool, but for the continued support and follow up when I had questions or needed anything!
Naomi Maldonado
Our back yard is beautiful.
Denise T.
We requested bids for a new pool build from 4 different companies and chose California Pools due to their professionalism and word of mouth reviews. They were very upfront with the timeframe of the build times and walked us through what to expect. Our project manager Christian Pierre and our construction manager Jordan Thrasher we're fantastic to work with. They were always prompt at responding to any questions we had and made the entire project run extremely smooth. Each phase of the project was completed on or before the estimated dates and the contractors that did work were always courteous and did an amazing job. We couldn't be happier with the pool and they did a top notch job! We couldn't have made a better decision by choosing this company to do our pool.
Ben Miller
Excellent company. Very easy to work with and highly ethical.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pool Waterfalls & Grottos
How much does a pool waterfall cost?
Are pool waterfalls energy-efficient?
Do pool waterfalls help with water circulation?
Can I add a slide to my pool waterfall?
How long does it take to install a pool waterfall?
Do waterfalls and grottos increase home value?
What’s the best type of pool waterfall for a small backyard?
Are pool waterfalls noisy?
Ready to Create Your Dream Oasis?
Start by establishing your budget today, and let us help you bring your vision to life with features like a Baja shelf that elevate both the luxury and enjoyment of your backyard. Get started now!
