Pittsburgh controller report finds some water fountains still have not been turned on
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It's been one of the hottest summers on record, but people in Pittsburgh have spent most of it without the use of their public water fountains.
In June, the city had almost none of its more than 200 public water fountains turned on, as only one plumber was working for the city.
On Friday, Pittsburgh Controller Rachael Heisler released a report on the city's progress, calling it disappointing.
Public water fountains update
The Controller's Office surveyed 20 water fountains, which represent roughly 10 percent of all the city's water fountains. The survey found that 13 of the fountains are operational.
"This was an avoidable problem, and I hope the administration is taking all the steps available to them to finish the job in the short term and to make sure this doesn't happen again next year," Heisler said in the report.
Despite offers from the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority to let the city use its plumbers and authorization from Pittsburgh City Council to hire outside contractors, the Gainey administration has continued to rely on that one plumber to get the job done and has had trouble filing two other open positions.
"It's not as simple as bringing in someone to turn on the fountains," said Maria Montaño, the city's communications director. "This is a trade job with union benefits and union protections and it takes a lot of time and training to do that."
Montaño said the city is trying to hire another master plumber and start a plumbing apprenticeship program, but Montaño could not guarantee that would be ready for next year. She said additional hiring in the city's Public Works Department has made strides in other areas.
"That's why we've increased the amount of personnel who are doing the potholes or picking up the trash or picking up the snow or cleaning the vacant lots, and we've seen vast improvements there," Montaño said.
Working by himself, the plumber has done yeoman's work to get the fountains turned on. But by the time he gets around to the other fountains, it'll be time to start thinking about shutting them down for the winter.