Fountain Hills fountain

Fountain Hills has a plume of water that once held the world's tallest fountain title. Experience Fountain Hills, the town's tourism site, says the fountain was built in 1970 by Robert McCulloch, the year before the London Bridge was reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, another of his projects. ABC15 quotes the town's Community Services Director, Kevin Snipes: "The fountain was meant to draw people in."

According to the town, the plume is driven by three 600-horsepower turbine pumps that send 7,000 gallons a minute through an 18-inch nozzle, rising from a concrete water lily sculpture in the middle of a large man-made lake. The lake holds reclaimed water supplied by the Fountain Hills Sanitary District. The town gives the full height as 560 feet, with about 300 feet normal because only two pumps usually run. Experience Fountain Hills says the everyday height is 330 feet and compares the full height with the Washington Monument. ABC15 says wind decides how many pumps run, giving about 170 feet on one pump, 330 on two and over 500 on three.