The fountains in Queen Victoria Square were up and running on for a number of hours to the shock of Hull City Council. The council had, the day before, announced the fountains had been turned off after being vandalised.
After the fountains were spotted to be up and running less than 24 hours after the council announced they had been powered down, the Hull Daily Mail contacted the council for an update assuming they had already been fixed.
After being installed as a part of Hull’s City of Culture awards in 2017, the fountains have had a chequered few years. After an extended period of being out of use, the fountains were finally switched back on in May, to the delight of many in the city.
Earlier this week the council announced that the fountains had been once again switched off due to further faults which were believed to be caused by an act of vandalism on Sunday, July 20, when detergent was poured into the fountains, causing damage and affecting water quality.
In response to this, Cllr Mark Ieronimo, portfolio holder for transport and infrastructure at Hull City Council, said: “This kind of reckless and irresponsible behaviour is completely unacceptable. It’s not only resulted in the damage of a much-loved city centre feature, but it is also going to cost taxpayer money to repair – which could be better spent elsewhere.
“We know how much residents and visitors enjoy the fountains, especially during the summer months, so we fully understand how frustrating this news will be. However, public safety must always come first.
“We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding while the issue is being resolved.”
(Image: Hull City Council)
After seeing the fountains working on the morning of Thursday, July 24 (less than 24 hours after the council altered the media to the act of vandalism) Hull Daily Mail contacted the council, assuming the damage to the fountains and issues with the water quality had been hastily resolved.
It soon become apparent that the council was unaware the fountains were on and that the issues, including concerns regarding water quality, had not yet been resolved.
It emerged that the fountains had been activated by a ‘computer glitch’ and it is believed the fountains came on at their usual time at 7am before being switched off around midday.
As there were a number of children enjoying the fountain on Thursday morning the council gave assurance that there should be no concerns with the water quality.
A spokesperson for Hull City Council said: “We can confirm that the Queen Victoria Square fountains were briefly activated on Thursday. As soon as this was identified, they were immediately switched off.
“Our external contractors have since confirmed that the recent heavy rainfall caused the water level in the trough to exceed 200mm, which triggered a safety mechanism and automatically activated the jets. This function has now been overridden to ensure the fountains remain off until the internal mechanisms are repaired.”
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