WASHINGTON — Water is flowing back into the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, after a controversial painting job kept it closed for weeks. And to many onlookers, it doesn't look much different.
"The pool gets completed at 4 o'clock and the water will start to flow in … and it's going to be beautiful," President Trump told reporters in the Oval office on Wednesday.
The next day, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared a video of water bubbling up through a grate on the freshly-darkened pool floor. Trump had the pool's surface darkened to a shade he calls "American flag blue." For the last century, he's said, the pool was "just gray … the color of concrete and stone."
By Friday morning, the 2,028 foot-long shallow pool had collected a stripe of water down the middle, just wide enough to reflect the Washington Monument across from it. The refilling continued under the bright sun, as one worker stood in the middle of the pool, with his pants rolled up above his knees, wielding a hose.
As the temperature neared 90 degrees, tourists, cyclists and joggers paused at the top of the nearby steps to snap photos and observe the process. Many welcomed the return of the water — and the ducks that play in it — but said they couldn't immediately tell a difference in the color.
"The more water it fills, the more similar it looks [to before]," said Luisa Córdoba, a D.C. resident and avid runner who says she's been coming to check on the pool every day since work started. "I'm just happy it's not that bright blue that we saw the first days, which was so alarming … if it stays like this, it's fine."
Early renderings — as well as preliminary coats of paint when the project started in late April — had critics worried the historic landmark would end up looking more like a swimming pool. But Friday's observers didn't find that to be the case.
"I'm colorblind, so it doesn't look blue — yet," said Terry Barzanti, a Maryland resident who works nearby.
"I'm not colorblind and it doesn't look blue," laughed his coworker Edgar Sadsad, who found it more grey.
Other passersby described it as closer to black, and said the difference might be more noticeable once the pool is fully refilled. Even so, Sadsad and Barzanti were among those who praised the project, saying the pool already looked cleaner and more appealing.
Trump has for months complained about the state of the pool, saying he made it a priority after an unnamed friend visiting from Germany called it "filthy" and "not representative of the country," according to the president.
The pool, which first opened in 1923, last underwent major renovations between 2010 and 2012. But it has continued to suffer from broken pipes and water leaks that merit costly refills, according to the Department of the Interior.
Trump has said this project sealed crevices in the stone to prevent leaks, and removed 12 truckloads of garbage from the pool, though it's not clear that it addressed the broken pipes.
"It'll last for 50 to 100 years before you have to do anything with it," he said.
Questions remain about the project's funding
The resurfacing took significantly longer than Trump's initial estimate.
He said in late April that the project would be done in a week or two, though the Department of the Interior told NPR it would take closer to a month.
In mid-May, the nonprofit Cultural Landscape Foundation sued the administration to stop work on the pool, saying it had bypassed federally required historic preservation reviews. A judge heard arguments later that month, but hadn't made a decision by the time the administration informed the court on Wednesday that work had been completed.
The project also appears to cost more than Trump said it would.
He gave the price tag as $2 million, which he said, without specifics, was significantly less than he had been quoted previously. But Interior Department records obtained by The New York Times show the administration plans to pay $13.1 million to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the Virginia firm that Trump picked for the project.
"It's kind of sad where our tax dollars are going. I mean, it was fine before, by my knowledge," said Samantha Sorokin of Arlington, Va., who was taking her parents on a tour.
It's not clear how much of the money is coming from taxpayers. A large sign affixed to the construction site fence, on National Park Service letterhead, informed visitors that "these improvements are being completed using your fee dollars."
(The Washington Post reported this week that the Trump administration is diverting at least $90 million from national park entry fees to fund its July 4th fireworks display and other D.C. beautification projects.)
When asked for comment about the cost and where the money is coming from, the Department of the Interior — the park service's parent agency — told NPR that it has "many funding sources available to spend on deferred maintenance."
"Unlike Barack Obama who spent millions upon millions in taxpayer-funded Great Recession recovery aid that should have gone to struggling families, the Trump administration is looking at different funding mechanisms which include endowment funds and revenue brought in from the sale of park passes," the unnamed spokesperson wrote over email.
The two-year renovation of the reflecting pool that ended in 2012 was funded by $34 million from an Obama-era economic stimulus package.
Trump's campaign to spruce up D.C.
Trump is hoping to make many changes to D.C., ranging from massive undertakings like his proposed triumphal arch (which got preliminary approval from a second federal agency this week) to smaller changes like installing new statues and restoring park fountains.
"We have many monuments and fountains all over Washington, and we're just about completed with all of them," he said Wednesday.
The Interior Department referred NPR to a White House post on X listing those accomplishments, which include "500 instances of graffiti removed," "134 rat-resistant trash cans installed" and "250 truckloads of debris from ponds removed."
Much of that work is being carried out by National Guard troops deployed to D.C., whose numbers are set to double ahead of the country's 250th birthday celebrations on and around July 4th. That's also the deadline — or at least impetus — for many of Trump's renovation projects.
Maria Sorokin, who was visiting her daughter from Pennsylvania, is skeptical that the 250th anniversary warrants major changes like the reflecting pool resurfacing.
"It is a special anniversary and it should be spruced up, but I'm not sure if this was necessary," she said, looking at the pool slowly refilling. "If it's not broken, don't fix it."
But some area residents, like Barzanti, embrace the cleanup and beautification efforts.
"We walk down here for lunch breaks," he said. "People come from all over the world to see our nation's capital. So we should show it off, we should take care of it."
Some changes are going over better than others.
Several locals at the reflecting pool, including Córdoba, mentioned that they were thrilled to see the fountains at Meridian Hill Park — a popular spot about 1.5 miles north of the White House — flowing with water for the first time in seven years.
Maryellen Thornton, who lives near the park, says the fountain restoration has been "amazing for the community," describing the picnic blanket-packed grass "like nirvana." It's also one of the reasons she and her husband Brad Thornton came to see the reflecting pool.
"We're just fascinated with how fabulous it is to have all of these water features being restored in the district," she said. "It just brings so much happiness to everybody."
Brad is also excited to see the return of water to the fountain outside Union Station, Washington's major transport hub, and hopes the newly filled reflecting pool will build on that momentum.
"A little bit of spraying water goes a long way," he said. "It shouldn't be about politics. It's just about enjoying it. We're in the city. We need some green space."
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