Are Pittsburgh's water fountains turned on? Two years after struggles, city works to keep up.

Two years after Pittsburgh struggled to turn on public water fountains, the city says just about every fountain that can be made operable is now working. 

In 2024, KDKA Investigators found that the city had one plumber to turn on the water fountains, activate spray parks, fill the pools, and get all the bathrooms and concession stands operational. That record improved last year when Ed Gainey's administration brought its staff up to three plumbers and one apprentice, and KDKA's informal survey this year found that team appears to be keeping up. 

Dan Gilman, Mayor Corey O'Connor's chief of staff, said the administration got an early jump on things.  

"The mayor felt very strongly that when it came to the first pitch in baseball season, he wanted those water fountains on," Gilman said. 

In fact, all of the fountains KDKA checked were indeed working — except for one.  At the Frick Park Lawn Bowling Club, the lawn bowlers said the fountain hasn't been working for years. Gilman says for the first time, the city conducted a complete inventory and determined that the fountain is one of a few dozen older fountains that cannot be fixed. 

"Frick by the bowling green is on the full replacement list. It is broken and needs to be fully replaced," Gilman said.

According to its accounting, the city says just about every fountain that can be made operable is now working. Of 170 fountains, Gilman says 40 are broken beyond repair and need to be replaced, while 10 others have needed new parts and are in the process of being fixed. The city is also checking on reports that eight fountains that had been working are now not working. 

He says all the rest are on, and the city has done all it can to keep the water flowing. 

"I'll be happy when 100 percent of our water fountains are on and working," Gilman said. "But I'm incredibly pleased with the effort that our incredible plumbing team and facility supervisors are putting into this. The fact that we have water fountains on earlier this year than ever before and well over 100 on and working for our residents is really important."

But challenges remain. The new administration will be presenting its first budget later this year, and Gilman says it'll be looking to come up with funding or development partnerships to begin replacing those 40 broken fountains.  

"We need to double down because with a number like 40, we have a lot of work still to do," Gilman said.