RiverQuestion of the Month

for November 2007

 

Question:

The fountain in Point State Park turned pink all last month (October), in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness month.

How do they do that?

 

Answer:

On Wednesday, October 3, the fountain at the point turned pink. Only 15 gallons of an environmentally safe red dye is required to tint the 800,000 gallons of water that circulate in the fountain so that the foamy spray appears pink instead of white. The red pigment is a concentrated tracer dye typically used by plumbers in search of leaks.

 

Fountains across the state of Pennsylvania, including fountains in Harrisburg and Erie, are turned pink each October. The Point State Park fountain water was dyed pink for the first time in October of 2005.

 

At the end of October, a small amount of chlorine is added to the water to neutralize the pink dye and remove the pink color.  Typically, the fountain is not drained of its water until after downtown Pittsburgh’s Light Up Night in mid-November. 

Sources:

 

 

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