December 2, 2016 | MAINTENANCE, DECORATING AT THE FOUNTAIN

Neighbors: Today (Friday, Dec. 2), a crew from the City of Berkeley is scheduled to carry out some maintenance on the Fountain at The Circle, which may include draining much of the water out and refilling it.

As our neighborhood volunteer organization has stated many times during our drought-challenged times, we and the city do all we can not to remove water from the fountain, which recirculates the thousands of gallons of water its holds. In this case, the chemical makeup of the water, which has not been changed in a few years now, has become unstable, and is causing problems, including staining portions of the fountain purple.

Draining some of the water and replacing it should allow us to re-establish the proper chemical balance and stop the staining, etc. We regret that there is not a better or simpler solution, but it appears this is the best option.

In happier news: This weekend, volunteers will be out sprucing up around The Circle and Fountain Walk and decorating the area for the holiday season. By Saturday evening, The Circle should be glowing just as it appears above.

Anyone is welcome to join in the monthly cleanup and maintenance of these neighborhood treasures, which takes place on the first Saturday of every month. Work begins about 9 a.m.; just look for our organizers who coordinate the work.

And as always, thank you for your support of Friends of the Fountain and Walk. If you have made a tax-deductible donation to our organization before, thank you. If not, you can find details about how to donate here.

Thanks very much, and happy holidays.

Michael Gray, FOFW President