If you were wondering why the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in D.C. looks much emptier much than usual, there’s a good reason.
The National Park Service is undertaking its annual deep cleaning of the pool.
Mike Litterst, spokesman for the National Mall, said that it’s done every year, in late winter or early spring.
First, they drain the 4 million gallons of water from the pool, then they clean the bottom of the pool with a variety of equipment, including vacuum trucks, water trucks, track loaders with broom attachments and hand tools, such as brushes and shovels, to get the last of the debris out, Litterst said.
You asked for it. Here is is: the Super-Scrubber at work in the Reflecting Pool today. It’s quite a sight… and quite a smell.
Big thanks to our facilities team for getting this job done! pic.twitter.com/2wCfkiMNjP
— National Mall NPS (@NationalMallNPS) April 11, 2022
“Normally, most of what’s found is an awful lot of goose poop, duck poop … for lack of a better term,” Litterst said. “A single goose can produce 1 to 2 pounds a day, and after a year, there are several inches built up that need to be dealt with.”
He said crews should be wrapping up the cleaning work by the end of this week and hope to begin to refill the pool this weekend. They expect the entire process to be completed, and the Reflecting Pool fully refilled, sometime next week, Litterst said.
