The park rangers are at fault. They should patrol this. These people are different culturally, so they don’t truly understand. It looks like a swimming pool to them.
The architects did not anticipate this, and it is not a good design for the masses with different perceptions of what they are looking at. Many do not fully grasp the meaning of this memorial...especially if they are recent immigrants.
Perhaps a simple fountain without the large pool would have been enough of a statement in the design. Why the big pool? I have been there and I don’t know why this large pool is necessary for this memorial.
It gets brutally hot in DC, so why can’t they make a small mist area along the Mall somewhere for those seeking relief from the heat...it could be tastefully constructed.