Just weeks after the newly revamped Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool turned green from algae, another historic water feature in Washington, D.C., has started running brown.
Two months ago, the Interior Department reopened the iconic cascading fountain at Washington’s Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, for the first time since 2019, when the water was shut off for renovations.
The fountain reopened pursuant to President Donald Trump’s executive order, "Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful,” the National Park Service said. But now, its water has turned brown, photos from the scene show.
When reached for comment, an Interior Department spokesperson attributed the color change to sediment.
“The National Park Service continues to fine tune the fountain’s operations after the reopening of the Meridian Hill Cascading Fountain in May. The brown water is sediment as a result of the reopening of two water lines that had been out of service for some time. We expect the water to once again run clean in the next 24-36 hours,” the spokesperson told The Independent.
The National Park Service turned off the fountain in 2019 to complete work on the park’s lower plaza. During that process, crews found “several critical components of the fountain needed to be replaced and extensive concrete work was needed to fix damaged areas,” according to the agency’s website.
The fountain was turned back on as the Trump administration was renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a project which cost at least $14.7 million and included repainting the basin with “American flag blue.” But soon after the pool reopened in June, algae turned the water green and its paint started to peel.
Crews deployed “high-tech nanobubble ozone technology” and poured hydrogen peroxide into the pool to combat the algae, an Interior Department spokesperson told The Independent last month. Meanwhile, Trump has accused vandals of taking a “box cutter” to the pool and pouring fertilizer in the water.
“They took a cutter, a box cutter or something very sharp. Can you imagine? Where did these people come up with this? And they threw a little fertilizer in the water, which is not good. Fertilizer doesn’t go well with water. Clear, beautiful water, doesn’t work well,” the president said on June 25.
That same day, the White House reported at least seven people were arrested in connection with alleged vandalism and seven others were issued federal citations.
“National pride will not be surrendered to a handful of deranged anti-American lunatics. Thanks to the Trump Administration’s decisive action, advanced nanobubble ozone technology has already neutralized the algae and repairs to vandalized areas are underway,” the White House said.
