Something in the water?

Walking down Queen's Road today, I saw two western tourists laughing at New World Tower. I was surprised because it's not a particularly hilarious example of architecture. Curious as to whether they were just highly amused by the waterfall next to the escalator, I glanced in as I walked by.

There was a member of staff with a super soaker, spraying the waterfall.

I was transfixed. Why were the management of the New World Tower paying somebody to take an outsize waterpistol and squirt water at ... water?

Was the waterfall dirty? Or was the water insufficiently clean and in need of a rinse? You see signs on all the lifts and escalators, telling you it's only been an hour since they were last sterilised, but few people come into direct contact with a waterfall in the atrium of a building. Unless I'm the only person who refrains from licking the waterfall as I go past it on the escalator.

Or perhaps out of some feeling of perfectionism, they were making sure the water was more watery than usual. Perhaps they're celebrating the great 6,000 dollar giveaway. But that's not normally done through the medium of watersports.

It didn't look like there was any graffiti on the water that needed to be rinsed off (and you'd want to scrub the water with a brush, not just employ a bored looking man in a suit to squirt water at the water).

Unless I write to the management office and ask, this may forever be a mystery.

Assuming he works there, of course.

Perhaps it's actually a new piece of performance art to amuse passing tourists and befuddle commuters early in the morning. I'll keep an eye out - if I see a chap lobbing water bombs into the fountains outside the IFC, I'll know something is afoot.