Why Does the Town Fountain Leak? Maudasaurus Knows

With all of our society starting to understand impacts of global warming (I'm not here to discuss why), we are harped upon daily about conservation.

I hardly believe there exists one "green" initiative on the books that calls for such wanton wastefulness of water. This is one of the driest summers ever but the Town of Vienna feels compelled to just spew water all over for no apparent reason. Surely not to water the dying trees just 10 feet away.

>>Why does the one and only Town fountain leak all over the sidewalk 24/7?

The Town Green water feature leaks because it was designed by an idiot who failed to realize that water will not fall 3 feet and drain into a narrow grate without splashing and being blown wide of its target.

>> Who designed this and how much were they paid?

The idiot. Too much.

>> Is a fix coming Maud?

From Maud? No. She's the one that vetoed the original Rotary Club design for a pool to collect the water.

>>What will the fix cost and who pays?

The taxpayers always pay for Town Council's folly.

Several options come to mind for fixing the fountain, like enlarging the drain zone or adding the pool. But these tend to detract from the current design intent of a floating surface of water that the viewer can freely approach. They also further oversize the fountain for its site.

Here's my idea for fixing my fountain:

The water will now flow down the top face of the sloped plate and free fall a shorter distance further inside the perimeter drain, resulting in much less splash and wind effect, and more certain capture by the drain.

Plus, the fountain gazer will now enjoy an inscription that has a matching silver underline suspended in air and that is indirectly illuminated with the dance and sparkle of light diffused through the trickling water and glowing out/up off the stainless steel plate. The free falling water and pedestal below will also be illuminated with the escaping light. Install additional sets of LEDs in the usual seasonal colors and you can vary the fountain illumination with the holidays. The exposed oblique face of the sloping stainless steel plate will lighten the tone of the now dark and gloomy pedestal that currently dooms the fountain.

The fix is actually pretty simple. I even volunteered my own time to fix it but was turned down...

The solution:
Like anyhting that has water flowing over an edge you need what is called a "drip edge" installed. Like at a window sill it is a groove cut in underneath or on the bottom of the sill so when the water runs down and around, it hits the groove and drips off before running up against the house

Underneath the fountain it is flat concrete. Directly above the drainage below / underneath the flat concrete in the center, cut into the conrete a groove. Approx 1.5 inches wide and approx 1 inch deep. So when the water runs down the side of the fountain and turns underneath, it hits the groove or " drip edge" therfore the water falling off right to the center of the drainage. A simple, small concrete saw will due with a 4" diamond cutting blade. Once the drip edge is cut in, a simple chisel will cleanly knock out the concrete. Therefore leaving a groove

A simple fix. I could do it myself on the weekend in 2 days, possibly 3

Charles Rossi for Mayor 2010
Common sence solutions