Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Sunday that the renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool suffered “multiple gashes” to the industrial liner that add up to 350 feet of damage.
Mr. Burgum said on ABC’s “This Week” that the gashes happened “early on” following the completion of the $15 million restoration project and were cut along the sloped edge of the 7-acre pool, which means it may only need to be partially emptied for repairs.
“We may not have to drain the whole thing, but it could go very quickly,” he said.
On July 2, a D.C. grand jury returned a felony indictment against Maryland resident David Hearn on felony destruction of property, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison upon conviction. Mr. Hearn, 67, competed for the United States as a canoeist in 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics.
“This was a deliberate act to damage the reflecting pool at the National Mall, that members of the National Park Service have worked hard to restore, and have witnessed,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said.
Mr. Hearn denied damaging the pool and said he reached in and lifted up liner material that was already loose in the pool.
New cameras have been installed around the pool to allow the Park Police and National Park Service to keep an eye out for vandals, Mr. Burgum said.
“If anyone were to do something now, we would have better video evidence of that now,” he told ABC.
He deemed the restoration project a success, despite the need to drain it for repairs and despite a return of algae growth.
“When you’re talking about 340,000 square feet of surface, even though there was damage done by vandals that was there, it is small and 99.99% of the pool bottom is perfect. The leaks have stopped,” he said.
Mr. Burgum said the algae that grew right after the pool was filled in June has been cleared by newly installed nano bubblers that he said “have won the battle” against the green biofilm.
The Reflecting Pool, he said, “was crystal clear” before the fireworks were launched on the National Mall Saturday night.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mr. Burgum said that the same contractor who installed the lining will repair it and that the peeling liner had nothing to do with faulty workmanship.
“It didn’t peel off. There was vandalism, there were box cutters, there has been several arrests,” Mr. Burgum said. “This is an industrial liner. The only way you can end up with slices in one spot and not another is if someone has physically cut it.”
The fence installed around the pool is temporary and was needed to ensure the public stayed clear of the massive July 4 fireworks show, he said.
Mr. Burgum said the federal cleanup of public parks will continue. In Washington alone, 48 monuments and 22 fountains have been restored and 1,000 graffiti markings have been eliminated.
The Reflecting Pool, which had been leaking 45,000 gallons a day, is no longer losing water, he said.
“All of these things have been going on across the city, and you know, everybody that lives in Washington, D.C., says the place has never look better,” Mr. Burgum said on ABC.
