Fountain in Krfska Street
The water is safe for drinking
The fountain was erected by Dr. Dušan Petrović, a municipal doctor in Zaječar and the first school doctor at the Gymnasium, in the first half of the 20th century. The fountain was located at the site of today’s hotel “Srbija-Tis.” As stated by Dr. Miodrag Velojić in the book “Zaječar Public Fountains,” this fountain had two spouts and bore significant similarities to the fountain at the then Great Market in the very center of the city. In the 1970s, during the construction of the hotel, the fountain was relocated immediately next to the hotel parking. After two decades, it was once again moved, towards Krfska Street, when the current above-ground part of the fountain, in a pyramidal shape, was constructed.
With the installation of the hotel “Srbija-Tis” heat pump, the fountain dried up in 2014. Due to the drying up of this and four other fountains, citizens gathered around this fountain on March 8, 2015, expressing dissatisfaction and signing a petition for the protection of public artesian fountains. When, under public pressure, the hotel’s heat pump was turned off at the end of March 2015, water flowed again from the fountain.
In early 2024, a joint project was implemented by the City of Zaječar, “Heineken” Serbia company, and the association “Za Drinking Fountains”, during which the immediate surroundings were arranged, and an identical replica of the iron fountain from the period of well construction was installed.
Gallery
Exact location of this water fountain: N 43° 54' 12.5'' , E 22° 16' 36.4''
Gallery
Water fountain location
Fountain in Krfska Street.
Water characteristics
- Flow– 2023. – 0,029 l/s
- Temperature – 15.7 °C
- Groundwater level – free flowing.
The water is of hydrocarbonate sodium type. Over several decades of continuous bacteriological and chemical examinations of water quality conducted by the Institute of Public Health “Timok” in Zaječar, no deviations from measured parameters were recorded until drying up (August 2014) caused by the “Srbija-Tis” hotel’s heat pump. After flowing again in March 2015, the water was occasionally not recommended for drinking due to increased values for turbidity (up to 7.4 NTU) and iron (Fe up to 0.72 mg/l). Today, the water from this fountain is safe for drinking.
Well details
There are no technical specifications, the diameter of the pipe is unknown, the depth of the well is unknown, and the exact location of the well and the pipeline leading to the above-ground part of the fountain is unknown.