The fountain in the Unirii Square (between the Holy Trinity statue and the Catholic Cathedral) is also indirectly related to the plague and marshy area diseases from Timişoara.

Although ever since the first half of the eighteenth century concrete measures have been taken to drain the marshes (in Turkish times the city of Timişoara was compared with “a turtle in water” by the traveler Evly Celebi), there was still a problem with water: Timişoara was surrounded by water, but it was infected (or “suspicious”) and could not be drunk! A very ingenious system to pump water into the city existed – water was taken from the Bega River to Fabric district where it was filtered with a sawdust filter and sent by pipelines to the city. However, during the 1849 siege, the risk of having the water supply within the enemy’s reach was abundantly proved. Therefore, drinking water sources were needed directly in the city.

In mid-nineteenth century, only 18 of the 130 wells in the city produced good-tasting water.

After a first attempt in 1832 to dig a deep well failed (the pipes had bent at 55 meters deep), in 1894 the work was resumed. They even reached down to 412 meters, which was a true accomplishment for that time. The water burst powerfully (it rose up to a meter high), but having a high content of magnesium, calcium and a temperature of 24.5 degrees it was soon deemed as “undrinkable”. However this fountain immediately became very popular; people of Timişoara came here to fill their bottles every day, to take what they called “the best water in the world”. Long after the fountain was dug, methane gas also surfaced besides water – children used to lit it causing explosions, to scare old ladies coming with their bottles to take water.

Officially, this fountain’s water has never been categorized as having any therapeutic indication (although it isn’t harmful, and at least for stomach acidity it has some positive effect). The water temperature varied over time – it reduces, thus making it more acceptable for drinking.

This situation continued until the mid-2000. The water which can be drunk now is not from “the pipeline”, but still artesian. However, it comes from another source and does not have the strong and disturbing mineralization the water before had.