Sunken garden fountain flowing once again
– The City of Atascadero announced recently that the city’s public works staff will refill the fountain in the sunken gardens and turn the recirculating pump back on.
The 100 year old fountain located in the center of the sunken gardens in downtown Atascadero is a historic community asset which has been long enjoyed by residents as well as visitors to the city.
The sunken gardens was inspired by “The Grand Basin” at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Founder E.G. Lewis envisioned a formal sunken garden to adorn the civic center in his new colony. The gardens were originally designed with walkways crossing the length and width of it, all meeting at the central fountain. The fountain was designed by architect Walter D. Bliss of San Francisco, who was also the architect of historic city hall building.
Recently, in order to conserve water resources and to further the city’s efforts to comply with the water reduction measures mandated by the state, the city drained the iconic fountain, it has been standing empty and dry for about one week. Unfortunately, in that time numerous reports have been received by city staff and by the police department of children running through the empty fountain with their shoes on, skateboarders skating in the fountain, and even one report of someone with their bicycle parked in the fountain while they were attempting to climb to the top.
Such activity has led the city to reevaluate their previous decision to shut the fountain down, primarily due to public safety issues as well as the very real economic concern regarding what it may cost to restore the historic fountain if it were damaged during such activities. The potential safety and financial concerns heavily outweighed any minimal gains in water conservation that might be made by having it shut down.
All of the water held in the fountain is recirculated through the pumping system. Only a small amount of water is lost through evaporation in normal conditions. City staff has calculated that during a period of above average temperatures ranging above 100 degrees for a week or more, the fountain loses approximately 30-40 gallons of water per day through evaporation. According to information readily available online, it is estimated that one person will use a similar amount of water during a 10 minute shower, and that the average American uses between 140 to 170 gallons of water a day.
Therefore, weighing all factors as thoroughly and objectively as possible, the city came down in favor of having the fountain refilled and the pump turned back on, for visitors and residents to again enjoy as so many have throughout its history.
