Fountain

Sit, relax and enjoy the picturesque views at Sister Cities Park.  Here, embedded in bluestone, is Sister Cities fountain, a unique representation of the world with Philadelphia at its center. Jets of water playfully leap from 10 spouts, representing our sister cities, globally positioned in relation to their distance from Philadelphia.

This park celebrates Philadelphia's commitment to strengthening global economic ties and cultural understanding. The Sister Cities program links Philadelphia to the world by creating special relationships with the 11 Sister Cities in 10 countries. To learn more about Philadelphia's Sister Cities, visit our park history page.

Water Safety Procedures

The Center City District values the trust parents put in us to ensure the safety of water in our play fountains and follows industry-recommended best practices for proactive water-safety management at Sister Cities Park, Dilworth Park and John F. Collins Park.

CCD staff test the water features in our parks three times each day. Using a professional water-testing kit, recommended by water treatment experts Klenzoid Inc. of Conshohocken, CCD staff checks the cleanliness of the water as well as the presence of safe and appropriate levels of chlorine to prevent the growth of bacteria.  If there are any imbalances or deficiencies in chlorine levels, CCD staff immediately addresses the situation on site.

Klenzoid is also under contract to visit each park twice a week, independently to take samples and send them to a certified laboratory to culture water samples to check for bacterial growth. Kits available in commercial stores can’t provide these laboratory tests that require several days of monitoring and evaluation.  The results of these reports come directly back to CCD and if there are any problems, CCD staff takes immediate corrective action.

While we consistently work to maintain the highest levels of water safety in all of CCD-managed fountains and water features, each day hundreds of children of all ages, including toddlers in swim diapers, play in the Dilworth and Sister Cities fountains and in Sister Cities’ wading pool during the summer months.

Therefore, in addition to routine testing, CCD has assigned pond/fountain attendants to Sister Cities and Dilworth parks to ensure safe play in the water and who are directed to ask parents to promptly remove children from a fountain or water feature if they witness unsanitary situations or behaviors so the water feature can be briefly closed, cleaned and treated.

Please note that since the fountain water is chlorinated it may not be safe for pets.