If you have an opinion on the fate of Salt Lake City’s Seven Canyons Fountain, now is the time to share it.
The Salt Lake City Parks Department is taking public feedback through a survey that closes at 5 p.m. on Friday. People can decide whether they want the fountain refurbished as a dry art feature, or decommissioned and replaced with a different art piece.
Located in Liberty Park, the fountain was donated to the city in 1993 as a gift by O.C. Tanner. Its network of shallow waterways is meant to represent the rivers and creeks that flow from the seven canyons that surround the city, and several rock groupings represent the mountains.
(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) The closed Seven Canyons Fountain is shown in 2017.
The Seven Canyons Fountain, a popular place with kids who would splash and wade in it, was turned off in 2017 because of potential public health risks from unclean water. Current county health guidelines also require lifeguards to be present at “publicly funded pools” that are more than 2 inches deep, according to the parks department.
Recirculating water through the fountain would be costly and might not be environmentally responsible amid a drought, the city determined, so that option was taken off the table. Salt Lake City is considering whether to convert the fountain into a dry interactive art piece, or seek funding to replace it with something else.
For information about the history of the fountain, a fact sheet can be found at slc.gov/parks/. The survey can be found at https://arcg.is/0SWeWi.
