So many fountains. So little time.

That might be the mantra of the parks department’s battalion of plumbers: 43 men with the unenviable task of keeping 3,114 drinking fountains flowing in the hot summer months, just as millions of parched New Yorkers and tourists descend on playgrounds, ball fields, beaches and parks.

A key lieutenant in the struggle is Gus M. Menocal, a licensed master plumber who oversees all of Queens. That some of the pipes delivering those cold, satisfying sips date to the 1930s is the least of his worries. He also deals with thieves who, under cover of darkness, pry off bronze bowls and brass valves to sell for scrap. He contends with children who, in the light of day, pour sand down drains, shove twigs in spouts and leave water balloon shrapnel behind. He chafes at ball players who wash their cleats in fountains. (“Ball field clay is the worst,” he said.) And, always, there are trees, whose pollen does more than agitate allergies; it is also a notorious clogger of traps, the J-shaped pipes that carry water away.

It is perhaps a minor miracle, then, that the drinking fountains work as well as they do. The parks department estimates that 93 percent of drinking fountains accomplish their main goal — providing fresh water — at any given time. That’s not to say that all fountains display the most robust pressure or the swiftest drainage. Far from it. “From a usability standpoint, there are tons of challenges,” said Adrian Benepe, commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation. “Summer can be rough on fountains. But most park users want to know if they can get a drink.”

In recent years, amid budget cuts and shrinking staff, maintaining the more than 1,900 parks has become an ever greater challenge. Even with new parks and esplanades opening every month, the annual maintenance and operations budget has trended downward, falling by $54 million in the last four years. Last week, the city took the politically risky step of soliciting corporate sponsorships for basketball courts and dog runs to find new revenue for park maintenance.