The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was partially refilled on Friday to flush out\u00a0what the National Park Service said were\u00a0clogged pipes that supply water to the monument, marking the latest twist in the Trump administration’s plagued renovation project.<\/p>\n
NPS\u00a0wrote\u00a0in a sign posted outside the Reflecting Pool that more than half of the 58 supply ports were “deemed nonfunctioning” due to buildup and needed to be cleared.<\/p>\n
The posting blamed the clogged lines on “years of neglect by previous administrations,” echoing attempts by President Donald Trump to pin the Reflecting Pool’s ongoing troubles on his predecessors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Barack](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/ca280010-3b4f-4225-9a0f-ce16281d402a\/pool-3-ht-gmh-260807_1786120363398_hpMain_16x9.jpg?w=375 "\\"Barack")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>A sign placed on a fence by the National Park Service hangs next to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, August 7, 2026 in Washington.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n WJLA<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Leaks and cracks in the piping\u00a0have long afflicted the pool, which was constructed in the 1920s.<\/p>\n President Barack Obama undertook a $35 million renovation in the 2010s, installing a treatment plant to purify water piped in from the Tidal Basin, but\u00a0it did not eliminate the leaks from both the pipes and between the slabs of the pool itself.<\/p>\n President Trump has long fixated on the leaking pipes\u00a0installed during the Obama renovation. When he announced the renovation project in April, he said the pool was “filthy dirty” and had “leaked like a sieve for many years.” The administration’s spring renovation, however, was limited to repainting the bottom of the pool and installing a new filtration system, leaving the pipes untouched.\u00a0<\/p>\n Issues have plagued Trump’s $16 million renovation project since it was unveiled earlier this summer. In mid-June, algae blooms turned the pool a murky green and the newly-installed liner appeared to peel off.<\/p>\n Trump has attributed the problems to vandalism. But charges brought against several visitors accused of damaging the pool have not held up in court.<\/p>\n U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who originally brought the charges, moved to drop four of the cases last week, saying publicly that evidence indicated the damage was caused by a flawed renovation, not intentional sabotage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pirro explained her decision to dismiss the most high-profile charge — a felony indictment against former Olympian David Hearn — in a revelatory 20-page filing last Friday, calling the renovation “hasty” and “botched.” She said she brought the case before she was provided internal Department of Interior documents proving that concerns about the peeling pool liner predated the alleged vandalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n Water begins to refill the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Washington.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Allison Robbert\/AP Photo<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Division](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/8ca22fe7-0aa0-47a4-84ff-d7d59a7f4c88\/pool-4-ap-gmh-260807_1786130258558_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"Division")
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