"Water march!": The fountains on Europaplatz will soon be shooting meters into the Öch sky again. Aachen's largest fountain system has been out of operation for a year. "Due to a regional network construction project in the immediate vicinity, it would not have been possible to put it back into operation last year in the spring and summer months," explains Robert Schmidt, the responsible department head in the city's building management department. "Instead, we decided to use the enforced break to properly seal the ageing fountain basin and remove rust from the technical systems under the fountain and replace some of them." The final work by a specialist company is underway. The Europaplatz fountain is also expected to be back in operation in the course of May.

To ensure that everything works as usual again, the employees of the municipal fountain service also lay around 1000 meters of cable in the Europaplatz fountain at the start of each season and install 26 water nozzles and 35 LED spotlights. Then the water can flow again. Incidentally, the Europaplatz fountain can hold a total of 3,500 cubic meters of water. The city pumps up to eight million liters of fresh water into the fountain basin every season. The meter-high fountains of the fountain, which is illuminated in the evening, will soon greet people again as usual at what is probably Aachen's most famous city entrance. This will probably be accessible again in the fall of 2025 via the freeway, which is currently still closed.

Building Management currently operates a total of around 65 municipal water features. All of them will be brought out of hibernation by the building management experts in the coming weeks, unless they need to be renovated or repaired. Unfortunately, the fountains in the historic old town, which are fed by a stream water pipe, are also starting up a little late this year. Due to a current Regionetz construction site in Krakaustraße, where the aforementioned underground Paubach pipeline is also being renovated, the fountains will remain dry for a little longer. In the weeks after Easter, however, the water should be flowing everywhere.

The traditional well season runs from Easter to October - sometimes a little longer, depending on the weather. "However, we have to take the fountains out of service at the latest at the start of frosty periods to prevent damage," explains Schmidt. Fortunately, there is still a long way to go until then - and many people enjoy the many splashing and bubbling places in Aachen.
The fountains in the Elisengarten (Elisenbrunnen and Kreislauf des Geldes) and in front of the Neues Kurhaus work completely independently of frosty temperatures. These fountains are supplied with warm thermal water and can therefore also be operated during the winter months.