Blast Towers, Jelly Fish, Tippy Buckets, Stream Calyxes and Morning Glories—when you work with water for a living, you have a language all your own.
Those are but a few of the featured attractions built into the menu of splash pads and architectural fountains offered by Waterworks International, which designs and builds those water venues at its site in High Ridge, Mo., southwest of the St. Louis suburbs.

The company, jointly owned by Ronald Deichmann and his brother, Bob, has been in business for 26 years. It has provided water effects, equipment and expertise to the likes of Disney, Universal Studios, Busch Entertainment, Six Flags and too many cities to list, as well as private businesses and individuals. As their Web site says, no job is too small or too large.

Which is good, because in the world of water, the business cycle has a flow all its own.

“We are seeing 20-plus percent growth on average over a few years,” Ron Deichmann said. “The last quarter of last year screwed ’08 numbers. I don't know we are in a downcycle; we all talk about it until we scare everyone.”

But, he notes, there are rays of sunshine even in a down cycle.

“As money becomes less available for big projects,” such as pools, he said, “smaller projects become more common.”

That’s where the fast-growing splash pad sector comes in.

They have surged in popularity over the past decade as cities, with parks and recreation departments feeling a financial pinch, have sought out more economical entertainment venues. Pools, quite literally, involve a lot of money going down the operational drain.

“Municipalities are becoming our best customers,” Deichmann said. “They can afford a splash pad. Every year, you hear more health problems with pools; splash pads contain a lot less water and they can be treated much cheaper.”

The pads, though have other operational attributes: No pooling water means vastly reduced liability concern; they’re accessible to anyone, even those with disabilities and children in strollers; there’s no lifeguard needed; and they save huge amounts of water.

Work for all the company’s products is done in-house, with 16 employees whose skill sets include drafting, engineering, machining, welding, coating (painting), and sales.

As popular as the splash pad market has been, though, far more of the company’s collective experience has been in fountain work, with custom-built units its specialty.

A point of pride for the company is the wonder some people express when seeing its fountains in action and marveling, “How did they do that?".

The company’s Web site features an in-depth selection of color photos showing fountains that light up the night with dazzling colored laminar streams or lighted architectural fountains that dance to music.

Another point of pride is the close work the company does with architects, engineers, contractors and designers to ensure on-time, under-budget projects that are done right the first time. It’s in-house CAD department creates construction, plumbing, electrical and installation drawings for most projects.

The work is done in a 20,000-square-foot facility that cranks out, by Deichmann’s count, more than 120 major projects—involving design, engineering, drawings and production. It also builds equipment for other, bigger splash pad and water park providers, and holds 16 patents, with more pending, for its components.