Normally I always agree with Ashley&Scott, she's my GBCN BFF. But I just threw out that water table last week :-# It got nasty so fast, I couldn't get the gunk off the molded shell shells on the bottom, or the balls. The "whirlpool" feature straight-up doesn't work, no matter how fast you turn the green spinner thing. I am on the hunt for a new one.
My mom (retired preschool teacher) use large, flat plastic storage containers (think: under the bed) for both sand and water. She puts them on thr ground or plastic low kids tables. She instead spends money on the balls, cups, floaties, etc that go in it.