Community concerns grow over broken fountain at Civic Center Park in La Quinta
A broken fountain at Civic Center Park in La Quinta is sparking concern among residents, who said they fear for the well-being of the park’s wildlife.
Residents are taking to social media to urge city officials to address the issue.
According to community members, the fountain has been out of order for more than a month — leaving algae in the water and turtles covered in moss.
The city's explanation?
One of the pumps is broken.
News Channel 3 spoke with Dianne Hansen, Civic Center Parks Superintendent, and asked what the timeline is for when the fountain will be repaired.
"I do not have the exact timeline at this point, but once we actually approve something. It takes several months just to build it," Hansen said. "It's not going to be a quick process."
She said one of the parks fountains went down around the Fourth of July.
"We had to work with some vendors," Hansen said. "These are big pumps that are in the lake. They are not shelf ready anywhere. You have to get a crane to come and take those out and remove them."
Hansen said its a time consuming process.
She also said the city is actively working to finding a solution.
"We're going to have to build a new pump. That's the recommendation from all the vendors," Hansen said. "But that takes time. That'll be several months as well. So in the meantime, our other pump is running. The lake is still functioning. It just doesn't look as good as it does when you have two pumps functioning."
The lake is a water feature and was never intended to be an animal habitat according to Hansen.
"The city did not install any wildlife there," Hansen said. "It does appear. We do our best to do the best for the animals."
She said when the fountain broke, they did reached out to Animal Services.
"We did reach out to Better Wildlife Management, and they have been monitoring the lake as well," Hansen said. "They're helping us with any wildlife issues that may come up."
Stay with News Channel 3 for the latest information on this developing situation.
