© dpa
The fountain season has officially started in Berlin. On Friday, 72 fountains and other water installations in the nine districts under its care started bubbling, as Berliner Wasserbetriebe announced at the symbolic launch at the Kreuzberg fire department fountain on Mariannenplatz.
More are to follow by the second week of May. A lot of work was carried out in the run-up to the well launch, such as cleaning the facilities.
In addition to the 134 fountains, watercourses and paddling pools, the latter of which will provide refreshment when temperatures rise above 25 degrees, a further 12 facilities are being renovated or repaired. Once the work has been completed, they are due to open this season. According to the information, a further 37 fountains will remain dry this year, for example due to major repair work.
According to the data, the district with the most fountains is Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg with 28 decorative fountains, 17 deep fountains, 6 paddling pools, 4 lake fountains and 2 waterfall systems. Of the city's drinking fountains, 78 are already in operation, with the season starting on March 22 - World Water Day. According to Berliner Wasserbetriebe, 226 drinking fountains are in operation in all twelve city districts. The remaining 148 are to be turned on in the next three weeks. In addition, a further 13 new drinking fountains are to be built this year and 5 others will be repaired.