Vandals dumped soap into the fountain at Town Square in Wheaton two times in recent weeks.
Wheaton police Chief Mark Field said the fountain was not targeted often and that it was unusual that it would be targeted both on Aug. 23 and Sept. 1.
“These are two fairly new occurrences,” he said.
Gary McGovern, property manager of Town Square Wheaton, said the cleanup process is not awful, but shouldn’t be necessary.
“It’s not that bad because we have people on staff, but it’s just the waste of water more than anything,” he said.
That is because in order to clean the fountain, it must often be drained and refilled.
While the city of Wheaton does not maintain the fountain in the shopping center, village employees have dealt with the same issue with the fountain at Front and Main streets.
“It’s been soaped before,” Mike Wakefield, Wheaton Street superintendent, said of the city-maintained fountain.
The process of cleaning a fountain requires several steps, including a liquid de-sudser and cleaning of the pump, Wakefield said.
The soap does not necessarily ruin a public fountain, but it can have a significant impact.
“It can cause damage to the pumps,” Field said. “In some extreme instances, they have to drain the whole fountain and start all over from scratch.”
The real monetary cost often has to do with the labor needed to clean the fountain.
Field said he believes it cost Wheaton Public Works between $800 and $1,000 to clean the fountain at Main and Front after someone dumped soap into it.
The Town Square location had been soap free until a few weeks ago, when it was targeted twice. In response, McGovern said the management company changed the hours the fountain operated. It will now be turned off at 9 p.m.
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