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The final drops of water have been added, and the nanobubbler switched on. Donald Trump’s “beautiful” makeover of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, one of Washington DC’s most historically symbolic attractions, is officially complete, and the public is getting its first glimpse of how the project’s $14.2m was spent.

Contrary to the president’s predictable assertion that it was receiving “rave reviews”, however, early impressions are decidedly mixed. Some of the first visitors declared themselves underwhelmed by the 2,000ft pool’s somewhat dull color – American flag blue, according to the specifications.

Others were bemused to see workers scraping algae from the bottom on Wednesday, just days after it had been filled with about 6.75m gallons of fresh water following the completion of renovation works.

“What you are seeing is residual algae from the supply lines, which have been sitting dormant for eight weeks while construction has been taking place,” Katie Martin, a spokesperson for the US Department of the Interior, told CNN, insisting the algae was “part of the normal startup process”.

She cited the National Park Service, which is responsible for maintaining the 104-year-old pool, purchasing a “state of the art” nanobubbler filtration system that would keep algae at bay.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden were guilty of making “failed and extremely costly” attempts at refurbishments, she said, regurgitating long-debunked allegations. “President Donald J Trump is an expert builder who has fixed the Reflecting Pool for good,” said Martin.

Some visitors declared themselves happy. “I’m impressed, to be honest. It reflects beautifully,” Lara Harvey, a New Zealander who lives in Bethesda, told CNN.

But Kyra Brown, of Washington DC, questioned both the cost of the project, which started out by Trump’s calculation at $1.8m, and quickly soared beyond $14m, as well as the end result. “It doesn’t look that much different, honestly, to me,” she said.

Also under scrutiny is the process by which contractors were chosen and the work carried out. The New York Times reported last month that Trump had steered the no-bid contract to Atlantic Industrial Coatings Ltd, a Virginia company that worked on his golf resort in the state, but which has no history of government work.

“I have a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools,” Trump said in April. “He called me up. He said: ‘Sir, we can do something on it.’”

In his Truth Social post last week, Trump said the public would still be marveling at the renovation a century from now.

“This was not a paint job,” he declared. “This was highly sophisticated material, industrial strength, that could last for 100 years, applied by very talented people.”