After Dozens of Duck Deaths, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Gets Drained
The National Park Service began emptying the parasite-ridden pool for a thorough cleaning on Sunday.
People are advised not to swim in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.鈥攏ot only is it a national monument, but the water can also get pretty nasty. Typically birds don't have to worry about either of these facts, but the recent death of 80 Mallards from a water-borne parasite shows just how gross the water can get, leading to a
The , when staffers from the U.S. Geological Survey鈥檚 National Wildlife Health Center discovered dead adult and duckling Mallards in the pool. With no obvious symptoms visible, necropsies were conducted to discover how the birds died. What they found: a population of parasites that grow inside snails living in the pool had reached toxic levels.
According to the , these parasites infect both birds and mammals with a skin condition called cercarial dermatitis, commonly known as 鈥渟wimmer鈥檚 itch.鈥 A lone parasite can burrow into its host鈥檚 skin and wreak havoc with an allergic reaction and a rash. Normally, no medical treatment is needed before the symptoms subside, but the sheer number of parasites proved too much for the pool's ducks.
The National Park Service determined that a chemical treatment wouldn鈥檛 be enough to eliminate the microbe bloom, so to keep both wildlife and people safe, a thorough, deep clean of the surfaces had to take place. The service plans to reopen the pool on June 19, and until then, any displaced Mallards on the Mall will just have to make use of the Capitol Reflection Pool and its .