In November 2003, the Wellington City Council gave the Bucket Fountain a $9000 upgrade.

The fountain was dismantled and taken away on the back of a truck. It received a complete facelift, including re-fibreglassing and repainting the buckets, sandblasting the frame, and cleaning and painting the pool.

There was concern that the Council was going to 'fix' the fountain – and make it work properly. However, we’re pleased to report that the changes made during the refurbishment have actually made it splashier!

Interestingly, the Council has reverted the Bucket Fountain back to its flawed original design. Perhaps they are still working from
the original plans?

The top layer of buckets now face outwardly. This causes the top red bucket to regularly tip its contents out onto the pavement, rather than into the buckets below.

If you look closely, you can see that the pipes that fill the top buckets have been shortened. On windy days, this results in water being blown away before reaching the buckets.

No more orange buckets. The newly painted buckets come in only blue, red and yellow. When first launched, the fountain's buckets were all yellow.