WASHINGTON — The historic cascading fountain at Meridian Hill Park is now filled with a light layer of dirt and rust-colored sediment that settled after testing other water features in the park over the weekend.
Maintenance crews were seen vacuuming sediment from the floor of the lower cascading fountain, which continues to circulate clean water while the cleanup is underway.
According to officials, the issue arose after two smaller fountains near the park’s Joan of Arc statue were test-run. Those fountains were not included in the original restoration contract and had not undergone the same cleaning process as the main cascading fountain. When they were activated, decades of accumulated rust and sediment inside the aging water lines were flushed into the interconnected plumbing system, eventually settling in the lower fountain.
Park officials said the water itself remains clean, and crews expect to spend the next several days removing the remaining sediment from the fountain basin.
The cleanup comes as the Trump administration has made restoring Washington’s long-dormant fountains a visible priority. Earlier this year, federal officials launched an effort to repair and reactivate historic fountains across the nation’s capital, many of which had remained dry or only partially operational because of aging infrastructure and years of deferred maintenance.
Meridian Hill Park’s fountain system—constructed between 1912 and 1936—is among the most significant historic fountains in the United States. Stretching through 13 cascading basins inspired by Italian Renaissance gardens, it is one of the longest continuously cascading fountain systems in North America and has long been the centerpiece of the park.
