Low Flow Fountains

With out of town guests visiting the cradle of the Revolution over the Fourth of July holiday, Bostonist made the pilgrimage down the red bricked freedom trail. In the North End near the Old North Church the fountain at the Paul Revere Mall was dormant. Dormant and disgusting. Full of nasty greenish stagnant water that sat in the pool without any flow whatsoever. It seemed an inviting pool for West Nile and EEE carrying mosquitoes to breed. The fountain makes the list of circulating fountains, those that recycle their water rather than continuously pump new water through the system and spitting in the eye of conservation efforts, even if it wasn't turned on yesterday.

Apparently the North End fountain is a re-circulating fountain, one of 24 city-fountains but not one of the 9 that just dumps the water down the drain and pulls a new supply through the tap. Boston officials don't have a tally on the number of gallons that are flowing down the drain each day but the Parks Department told the globe that replacing the plumbing to recycle the water would cost about $1.6 million. In an old city like Boston we seem to be confronted with the conundrum quite often – spend lots and lots of money now to potentially save the same amount in 20, 30, or 40 years. Unfortunately for conservation's sake, city planning generally only looks at the 10 year picture when making budget decisions.

Image of a fountain sculpture of curious subjects in the Boston Common from Flickr user Dan4th