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WASHINGTON — <\/span>Water began refilling the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Thursday, President Donald Trump announced from the Oval Office. <\/p>\n Trump showed a video during an unrelated event with water bubbling into the freshly painted basin at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial. <\/p>\n \u201cThat’s clean, beautiful water,\u201d the president said. <\/p>\n Live video showed water accumulating in the center of the basin, with workers and trucks still inside the pool.<\/p>\n Trump noted the work to paint the shallow basin a deep shade, which he calls \u201cAmerican flag blue,\u201d was completed Wednesday. The administration said in a court filing<\/a> that it was set to be filled with water no later than Sunday. <\/p>\n Trump also announced a plan to build a \u201cpromenade\u201d that would allow pedestrians to walk from the back of the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac RIver.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to call it the \u2018Trump Promenade\u2019 but I don\u2019t know if I want to do that, but it\u2019s going to be beautiful,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Trump has put the cost of the work on the pool at $1.5 million to $2 million, but records show<\/a> that at least $14.8 million worth of contracts have been awarded<\/a> for the project. The president announced the work in April during an unrelated Oval Office appearance, saying he was inspired by complaints from a friend visiting from Germany who called the pool dark and disgusting. <\/p>\n The project is another way for Trump to leave his mark on the city, following the demolition of the White House East Wing<\/a> to build a large ballroom and plans to build an arch<\/a> between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. <\/p>\n The reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet (610 meters) long, was originally built in the 1920s<\/a>. It sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and is one of the most iconic sites in Washington. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously gave his \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech there in 1963.<\/p>\n The basin held about 6.5 million gallons of water \u2014 roughly as much as 10 Olympic-size swimming pools \u2014 before a 2012 renovation, according to the National Park Service. Under that earlier renovation, the pool was reengineered with a circulation and filtration system so that instead of using the city\u2019s drinking water, it draws river water from the nearby Tidal Basin. Washington and its surrounding states are facing drought conditions. <\/p>\n Critics have said Trump, a Republican, is spending too much time and attention on his pet projects<\/a> and not enough on issues that voters care about, like the cost of living, in the run-up to the November elections. Others have said he wants the reflecting pool to look more like a swimming pool.<\/p>\n Last month, a Washington-based nonprofit called the Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a suit<\/a> asking a judge to force the Trump administration to stop work on the \u201cdark grey\u201d Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the new paint color suggested a \u201ctheme park.\u201d <\/p>\n