The Liz Carpenter Fountain in Butler Park will be closed for the next few months, as work begins on upgrading it. The City of Austin is making more than a million dollars worth of improvements to the fountain's filtration system.
Higher-than-expected use caused the system to shut down in the past, leading to potentially unhealthy levels of bacteria in the water. Work is expected to be finish on the fountain by May.
Here's the full release from Austin Parks and Recreation:
The Austin Parks and Recreation Department has begun the construction upgrade of the Liz Carpenter Fountain filtration system. These improvements will bring the Liz Carpenter Fountain into full compliance with the current State requirements for interactive water features without detracting from the original design intent of Butler Park. The total amount of the construction contract will not exceed $1.1 million dollars. Funding for the construction contract will come from Capital funds appropriated to the Parks and Recreation Department. The Department will be expanding the filtration system to handle the high water volume use at the fountain. The filtration system currently filtrates only 20 to 30% of the water. The added enhancements will clean 100% of the water. The new filtration equipment will also remove particles from the water which have caused maintenance problems with the fountain pumps, causing the fountain pumps to fail and lead to the fountain being closed for extended periods. A secondary disinfection system being installed is an additional enhancement to the filtration system which will use Ultra Violet lights to kill micro-organisms that cannot be removed by the sand filters. The fountain is located between Riverside Drive and Barton Springs Road next to the Palmer Events Center. The construction upgrade is projected to be completed in late May 2011.
