Meridian Hill Park Fountain Shut Off After Brief Resurrection

Update at 9:54 a.m. on Tuesday: Meridian Hill Park’s fountain is back on. See our original story below:

A popular local park is parched again.

The multi-tiered waterways at Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park stopped flowing this weekend after springing to life Friday.

“We turned off the equipment for the weekend until we can finish making a few adjustments to the system,” explained Emily Linroth, public affairs specialist with the National Park Service. “We didn’t want to leave the fountain running unattended over the weekend until we know everything is working 100 percent.”

A contractor working on the fountain earlier this morning said crews turned off the water to fix a problem with the way the fountain is flowing.

“We got to figure out where the water is going before we can turn it on,” said the contractor, who didn’t want to share his name with a Borderstan reporter. The contractor added that the water was shut off to protect the fountain’s one-of-a-kind pump motor, which took months to fix and replace earlier this year.

The fountain will be turned on later today if all goes well, the contractor said.