Fountain or not a fountain... thats the question

During the last event in the inner courtyard of our University("Wasserhof" -> "water courtyard") to be seen in the last posts, something catched my attention. There was something like a fountain which I have never seen before: 

There was always this strange rock with a metal stick standing next to it, but I really had to look twice. There was now all of a sudden during this event water coming out of the metal stick which was falling on the rock. Looks quite cool, only with one snag to it: there is no real circulation of water, this means that all the water that comes out of this "fountain" is forever lost. Really really strange. Who had the idea to construct this "thing"? Who is responsible for the installation of this example of usefulness? Who signed the cheque for it? How big was the cheque? No surprise that they turned it off directly after the event. What a shame.