The dire state of Paris fountains, eight years on

During the summer of 2017, we published a report on the functioning of ornamental fountains in Paris. At the time, we found that 56% of them were not flowing. We went back to see each of them in June and July 2025. And the findings are exactly the same: 56% (not necessarily the same ones, by the way) are dry, while 44% are working — more or less properly, that is.

Let us briefly recall the methodology used for both articles:
– only fountains managed by the City of Paris and located on public roads are included,
– we counted ornamental fountains, including water-jet basins, but not drinking fountains or Wallace fountains,
– we recorded their state (flowing or dry) at the time of our visit; some fountains may be flowing at certain times and not at others, which, as we wrote seven years ago, amounts to a zero-sum game.

We created a Google Map showing the condition of fountains in 2025, and a second map comparing this status with that of 2017 (2017 fountains are shown as droplets, 2025 ones as diamonds). However, we simplified the color coding [1] and applied it to the 2017 map as well, thus offering an updated version to make comparisons easier.

If we consider their overall condition, we must acknowledge that some fountains classified as Historic Monuments have indeed been restored (the Fontaine des Innocents, the Fontaine des Quatre Saisons, etc.), which is a welcome improvement. But the picture is more complex.

First, because “restoration” does not necessarily mean “putting back in operation”; and second, because some fountains have been so poorly restored that they are already deteriorating again. This is the case, for example, with the Fontaine Charlemagne [2] (ill. 1) or the ones at Porte de Saint-Cloud, by Paul Landowski. They are dry once again, because — as a reader warned at the time [