I've lived and worked in downtown Portland for over 25 years and the Bubblers are truly a welcome gift to the city. For the record, I've never seen a pigeon drinking from one, nor ever seen one with "pigeon poop" on it. They are also not running 365 days a year. They are shut off when the weather gets too cold or and during extremely rare periods of prolonged summer drought. It's hard to "waste" water when you have an excess of it (they don't call us Portlanders "webfoots" for nothing).

Cafe Unknown has more information on the Benson Bubblers.

http://www.cafeunknown.com/2012/11/city-of-bubblers-streetcars-on-bridge_3073.html

The Simon Benson house is another miracle in preservation. It sat abandoned and vacant for decades before being moved to the PSU campus and restored.