# Water fountain
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 26, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086 "2008-01-26T15:08:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086/1 "2008-01-26T15:08:59Z")
My new apartment is set by a lake. This lake has two huge fountains going constantly. It looks beautiful, but it made me wonder about the fish and waterfowl that reside here. Is there a filter of some sort so fish don’t get sucked up the…pipes or whatnot? I imagine there has to be, else you’d see fish shooting into the air. What do these fountains do to the lake floor?
How do these fountains work? Are they attached to anything, or just alone out there?
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086/2 "2008-01-26T16:17:42Z")
My first real engineering assignment was to fix the company fountain in front of the building by re-designing the nozzels so that it would look prettier to the owner as he sat in his office…
Yes, there has to be a filter on it or the fountain would get clogged. And I would doubt that they would draw straight off of the bottom or mud and fish crap would clog up the filter. There is almost always a pump house over on the side of the pond somewhere that draws the water from lake but is separated by a buried concrete structure of sorts from the lake. In affect the fountain is most likely causing no more damage than a rain shower would do.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086/3 "2008-01-26T17:51:14Z")
Yeah, there might be a filter, but there’s probably a grate around the intake so nothing can get sucked into it. Also, I don’t think you’d see fish flying though the air, I think you’d see fish chum flying though the air.
Factoid, the reason for the fountain is to keep the water moving, without it you’d have a giant mosquitto breeding area.
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### Author:  [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086/4 "2008-01-26T19:13:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Factoid, the reason for the fountain is to keep the water moving, without it you’d have a giant mosquitto breeding area.
This sounds to me like an actual lake. While there may be _some,_ Mosquitoes typically breed in smaller, more ephemeral bodies of water like buckets, cans, gutters, tires, etc. where they can complete their life cycle before other invertebrate predators become established.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086/5 "2008-01-26T20:51:26Z")
[QUOTE=Stan Doubt]
This sounds to me like an actual lake. While there may be _some,_ Mosquitoes typically breed in smaller, more ephemeral bodies of water like buckets, cans, gutters, tires, etc. where they can complete their life cycle before other invertebrate predators become established.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I guess it is a lake. Nevermind.
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### Author:  [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086/6 "2008-01-28T14:07:46Z")
Yeah, I don’t think fish chum is the look they are going for! Silly question in retrospect…
The lake is seven acres, with ducks, fish, turtles and…alligators. I find that one hard to believe simply because gators would eat all the fish and ducks, wouldn’t it? 7 acres isn’t large enough to house an alligator for very long.
Should I be worried that one’s going to leap out and grab me while I am gazing at pretty fountains? Do I need to find a Mick Dundee to stalk me until I need rescuing? 😉
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086/7 "2008-01-28T16:23:56Z")
A full time fountain also oxygenates the water, and discourages green scummy stuff from growing on the surface. In cold places, it slows icing.
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### Author:  [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086/8 "2008-01-28T21:37:49Z")
[QUOTE=Lionne]
7 acres isn’t large enough to house an alligator for very long.
[/QUOTE]
There are plenty of golf courses in locations like Florida, that have ponds far smaller than 7 acres, and from watching Dirty Jobs, and other animal shows, certainly support a gator population.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountain/435086/9 "2008-01-29T00:17:12Z")
[QUOTE=butler1850]
There are plenty of golf courses in locations like Florida, that have ponds far smaller than 7 acres, and from watching Dirty Jobs, and other animal shows, certainly support a gator population.
[/QUOTE]
There’s a water hazard in the most literal sense of the phrase…