ATHOL — Alan Keddy of the Athol Cemetery Parks & Tree Division was spotted working on the fountain filled with flourescent green water in the Athol Veterans Park at the corner of Exchange and Main streets recently.

“I’ll get it looking pretty for Veterans Day,” he said, pointing to the remaining algae-colored water being pumped from the fountain’s basin. “We just cleaned it out about a month ago.”

Submerged in the stagnant water were bits of trash — leaves, paper, plastic bottles and cans — left by visitors. He noted that the design of the octagonal marble fountain, ringed with flagpoles and plaques bearing the flags and insignia of the armed forces, is flawed.

“The way it was designed,” he said above the roar of the generator, “is there is no way to filter the water that runs through the pump, so everything that goes into the fountain goes through the pump.” The mechanical room lies beneath the fountain, accessed by a metal vertical ladder under a steel trap door which is kept padlocked.

“The pumps have been pretty good for the past three years, but this spring we went to start it up and they were both burned out,” Keddy said.

The pumps were “running real hot last summer,” he said. “We figured something was going to happen. The rings inside melted.”

He noted that the fountain’s pumps blow the water straight up into the air, a sparkling sight caught in the sunlight. “But if you get a real windy day, it blows the water right out of the fountain. And it can’t fill itself so the pumps will run, and it will cavitate. There won’t be enough water in there, then it will run hot,” he said.

Cavitation is the formation of bubbles, or cavities in liquid. The collapsing of the bubbles trigger shock waves inside the pump, causing major damage. He said the fountain is kept running through Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

“I’ll make sure it’s working nice for Veterans Day. We will have to go through and clean the trash out again. We do what we can down here,” he said.

The Armed Services Memorial Fountain was donated by the Athol-Clinton Cooperative bank, Athol Credit Union, Leo P. LaChance, and Angelo, Melody, Amy and Steven Salvadore.

The main flagpole bears a plaque stating “Dedicated to All Veterans, Nov. 11, 2001” and given by Banknorth of Massachusetts. Beneath the flagpole are plaques inscribed with the names of donors, and citations honoring specific persons, groups and businesses for their contributions to the park.