POWERFUL water fountains for young children in Abingdon and Wallingford have been breaking down.

The fountains at Abbey Meadows next to the River Thames broke on Tuesday last week for the second time this year, but were fixed on Saturday allowing mums and toddlers to use again daily from 11am to 6pm.

But by Sunday an electrical fault put the fountains and pool at Riverside Park in Wallingford out of action.

A spokesman for Vale of White Horse District Council said: “The fountains in Abingdon were first affected by a broken pump.

“But the latest problem was with the computer system running the fountains and that has now been fixed by our engineers.”

Mum of two Laura Williams, 28, an occupational therapist who lives on the Peachcroft estate, visited Abbey Meadows on Tuesday with her two sons, Jack Williams, 18 months, and Oscar Williams, three. She said: “We came here last week and were very disappointed to find out that the fountains were broken.

“As far as I could see, the council hadn’t put any signs up to alert people to the problem so I had to find out what was wrong from a member of staff.

“We’re delighted the fountains are back on. My lads love splashing around here on a hot sunny day. It’s lovely to come and sit down by the river and relax and it’s all free.”

Meanwhile, staff at South Oxfordshire District Council are trying to fix the fault at Riverside Park, which reopened last month following a £180,000 facelift, and a neighbouring camping area.

The revamp brought a new water feature including the fountains operated by pressure pads.

An SODC spokesman said: “The electricity company will visit the site this week to replace the equipment that has failed.

“However, this means that the pool and interactive water feature will not be available for the public until further notice.”

Both councils said earlier that they would limit the number of hours per day the fountains operated during the hosepipe ban, which was lifted by Thames Water earlier this month.

The fountains are switched on for the summer season.