• DC's not-so-reflecting pool is full of algae after $34 million renovation

    Mark Wilson / Getty Images

    Children look at Ducks in the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that is full of algae after recently being filled with water, on Sept. 26, in Washington, DC. National Park Service officials have hired a contractor to remove the algae that has appeared after a two year, $34 million renovation of the pool.

    Mark Wilson / Getty Images

    A jogger runs past the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that is full of algae after recently being filled with water on Sept. 26, in Washington, DC.

    Mark Wilson / Getty Images

    A Duck is half way submerged in the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that is full of algae after recently being filled with water, on Sept. 26, in Washington, DC.

    The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool reopened to the public at the end of August, after an almost two-year renovation costing $34 million. After being recently filled back up with water, it is now full of algae. Ironically, the new pool was intended to "improve the reflectivity of the water" with tinted concrete.  According to Reuters:

    "With this renovation, we have given the Reflecting Pool a much-needed overhaul and brought its engineering into the 21st century," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.

    The 90-year-old pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that also reflects the soaring Washington Monument had provided one of the capital's most-photographed views.

    But the reflecting pool, which is about 160 feet wide and 2,100 feet long, had degraded badly over the decades.

    Built on marshland without pilings for support, the original pool had sunk, causing cracks and leaks. The pool held 6.75 million gallons (25.6 million liters) of water but lost an estimated 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) a week to leaks and evaporation, the statement said.

    Because the pool lacked a circulation system, it had to be emptied, cleaned and refilled twice a year. Read more.

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    Less than a month after the memorial's extensive renovations, the shallow reflecting pool has been inundated with algae from incoming Tidal Basin water. NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports.

    Mark Wilson / Getty Images

    Tourist walk past the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that is full of algae after recently being filled with water, on Sept. 26, in Washington, DC.

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  • Reflecting pools readied for National September 11 Memorial opening

    Justin Lane / EPA

    A view of the south reflecting pool at the National September 11 Memorial at ground zero in New York, August 2. The memorial is scheduled to open in time for the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

    By Rich Shulman

    The 911 memorial website has some excellent animations and graphics. (see animation below). Want to see the animation in HD? Click here to download a 46 mb Quicktime file)

    Click here to see how to find the names of the victims on the reflecting pools.

    If you plan to visit, you need to reserve a visitor pass in advance.

    A computer-generated fly-through animation shows the building and north and south reflecting pools as they will look when the National September 11 Memorial in New York is completed in September.

     

    Justin Lane / EPA

    A worker lays stone near the National September 11 Memorial at ground zero in New York August 2. The memorial is scheduled to open in time for the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

  • Famous Lincoln reflecting pool undergoes 18-month overhaul

    By Rich Shulman

    As the Washington Post reported:

    Last week workers started sinking the pilings — 2,133, to be exact — that will support the new pool. The old pool, which dates to the 1920s, was not built on pilings.

    Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

    Tourists walk past work underway to reconstruct the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington, May 11. Although originally built in 1922 on swampy ground, crews have taken out the massive 618-by-51 meter pool to drive sturdy wood pilings to provide a better foundation and to install a modern water circulation system when they replace it, at a cost of $30.7 million. Work is scheduled to continue on the famous pool -- well known for such real events as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and such fictional ones as Forrest and Jenny reuniting in the movie Forrest Gump -- until 2012.

    Tim Sloan / AFP - Getty Images

    Jumbotrons and staging are in place along the reflecting pool a day before Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial on August 27, 2010 on the National Mall in Washington.

    The reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial is being completely overhauled and won't be fully repaired until Spring 2012. NBC's Brian Williams reports.