Pallade Veneta - Trump orders new, blue surface for Washington's Reflecting Pool

The project -- part of the capital city's sprucing up ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations on July 4 -- will cost about $1.5 million and take roughly three weeks, Trump told reporters Thursday.

The 2,000-foot (610-meter) pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial "was in terrible shape," said Trump, who was a long-time real estate developer before entering politics.

"It was filthy, dirty and it leaked like a sieve for many years," he said in a White House video about the plan.

Built in 1922-1923, the pool has become a key landmark in the US capital. Civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech overlooking the reflecting pool in 1963.

Trump said he rejected a proposal to replace the stone in the bottom, a plan he said would cost $300 million and take three years.

Instead, he contacted contractors he had previously used, and they said using the swimming pool surface would cost much less and be completed in a fraction of the time.

"I've built more than 100 swimming pools in different buildings," Trump told reporters, referring to his project as "a business study."

The contractors have cleaned the bottom and begun pouring the "industrial-grade" substance and will be finished in a matter of days, he said.

"You're going to end up with a beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool, the way it's supposed to be. Much better than it ever was," he said.

Trump has embarked on several other major renovations in Washington, including demolishing the East Wing of the White House, where he aims to build a huge ballroom.

E.M.Filippelli--PV