After two years of remaining empty and bone dry, the Bolin Fountain, located at the Dillard quad, showered back to life Sept. 9. To ensure it will operate efficiently, maintenance workers have been previewing the fountain for the last week.

The fountain shut down in 2013 when Wichita Falls city officials enforced water restrictions for Stage 4 drought.

“It was not a requirement at the time to shut down the fountain although later became one when Stage 5 restrictions were enforced,” Associate Vice President of Facility Services Kyle Owen said. “We preferred to do our part to conserve water at the time.”

Prior to full-time operation of the fountain, significant maintenance work has been completed to repair the fountain.

“We had to replace the existing control panel and we added an electrical disconnect for the power source in Martin for safety,” Central Plant Superintendent Dean Price said. “We did not purchase new nozzles. Facility workers repaired them instead. Refurbishing the parts ourselves has saved about $1,200 to $1,500.”

The budget for repairs was $23,000 and total refurbishment was $15,853, leaving more than $7,000 of Higher Education Assistance Fund monies to be used for other academic necessities.

“Since the majority of the work was done by Facilities, we just had to have the electrical work on the fountain completed by a contractor,” Owen said.

The fountain is running on city water. The equipment required to use well water would cost more than $30,000.

Fountain hours of operation are from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.