A broken drinking fountain that hasn’t worked in years has area residents wondering why it hasn’t been fixed or removed long before now.

On a hot day, a drinking fountain looks pretty good to a gaggle of kids made thirsty from hard play — or, for that matter, even to adults who aren’t carrying a bottle of water. It’s as refreshing as a desert oasis.

The city has expanded its inventory of fountains in parks and other locations where they’d be put to good use, and has replaced a lot of the old ones with fountains that have bottle-filling faucets and even drinking dishes for dogs.

All those fancy new fountains have folks who live in the area of Lawlor and Swanwick Aves. (near Gerrard St. E. and Victoria Park Ave.) wondering when it’s their turn for an upgrade of a bone-dry fountain outside the Adam Beck Jr. Public School.

Andrew MacPherson emailed to ask for help in finding out “why a water fountain in our area has run dry for at least the last five years (since we moved into the neighbourhood) at a minimum.”

The fountain is located between the sidewalk on the east side of Lawlor and a fence surrounding the school’s playground. But it’s a deceptive mirage and evidence of neglect by the city, he said.

“Lawlor has recently had its sidewalks redone and the street surface has been repaved, and I think it would have been wise to either fix the fountain at the same time or remove it.”

MacPherson sent several photos of the broken fountain with his note, along with a picture of a fountain that would be a refreshing alternative.

“It would be a wonderful addition to have it replaced with a new water bottle refilling station/fountain like the one in Sorauren Park, and it would be even better if it had a dog-friendly dish, too.”

I went there and found an old, beat-up fountain with the spigot broken off, just steps away from where dozens of kids were playing in the schoolyard. If it worked, you can bet they’d be using it.

STATUS: Diala Homaidan, a spokesperson for Toronto Water, emailed to say they’re looking into why the fountain has gone so long without being repaired, and if there’s a plan to replace it.

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