Quote ="McLaren_Field"
Mintball also linked to a newspaper report on Facebook this weekend where Thames Water have turned off all of the ornamental fountains in central London until the Olympics in the name of "saving water". I'd love to know how badly you'd have to design an ornamental fountain so that the water didn't fall back into the pool and get re-pumped back to the fountain again, its almost impossible to imagine how badly you'd have to design an ornamental fountain so that it needed a constant supply of new water and all of the used water just ran away into the drains and was lost.'"
Fact - The vast majority (99.9%) of ornamental fountains utilise recycled water - it's simple,you have a closed circuit one or more pumps depending on the size and type of fountain,some kind of filter and bob is indeed you uncle.
the same water recirculates according to the timer on the pump - most pumps/fountains start at about 0700/0800 and switch off at about midnight
water can be lost from the sealed system through the wind or leaks etc and that water lost is automatically topped up by a level sensor which tells a valve to open and replace the lost water - this amount is usually small if at all in most fountains,whatever their size
if London has drained their fountains during the winter like most towns & cities then the fountains are normally cleaned with a high pressure hose and then refilled when deemed safe according to the weather conditions - some councils may choose not to drain the fountains in winter if they believe the weather will remain relatively mild.
I can understand Londons reticence to not use water at the present time as the same fountains will probably be drained and washed (and refilled) before the olympics start
