One of Birmingham’s most famous sculptures has sprung a leak.

The much-loved sculpture of a woman reclining in a water fountain outside Birmingham Council House, nicknamed the Floozie in the Jacuzzi, is losing gallons of water a day.

To halt the problem the city council has shut down the Victoria Square fountain, leaving the floozie sitting not so much in a jacuzzi but a dry bath.

The city’s most famous water feature has had leakage problems as far back as 2002 and has undergone several repairs to her plumbing.

She was erected in 1992 at a cost of £3.5 million but then started to spring leaks.

Two years ago the authority carried out significant excavation under the statue to try to find the source of the leaks and carried out repairs to pipework.

This was judged a success in that it reduced water loss, but earlier this year the water started to seep out from the fountain again.

The city council has now allocated £70,000 to get to the source of this latest leak and solve the problem once and for all.

A council spokesman said: “The fountain has been suffering some minor water leakage for a number of years, which is inevitable in any major water feature. The water loss has increased again and we are now working to assess and address the leakage.”

He said a new round of investigations, and possibly interim repairs, will begin this month.

“We cannot give a definitive timescale for completion because the work is by its very nature investigative and the timetable will depend on findings,” he said.