Trump’s $14 – Just weeks after President Donald Trump touted his Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovations as a matter of expertise, the $14 million taxpayer-funded coating is peeling in sheets while green water and algae persist. Workers have been seen dumping hydrogen
On Thursday, visitors to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool couldn’t miss what was happening after the renovation: sheets of coating were floating at the surface.
President Donald Trump had positioned himself as a swimming pool expert as he touted the renovations he ordered this year. saying he’s put in “more than 100” over his career. But after spending $14 million in taxpayer funds. the Reflecting Pool’s look has provoked a question that visitors seemed to answer for themselves—why does it now appear arguably worse than before?.
The most visible change is the color of the water. The pool is bright green. a hue tied to what is reportedly one of the largest algae blooms in recent years. And then there’s the coating itself. The “industrial-grade swimming pool topping” Trump chose appears to be peeling off in sheets. with people on site taking notice of the floating material. HuffPost observed visitors taking samples of the coating to keep as a souvenir of Trump’s Washington.
A man who gave his name as Sean. and said he has experience working on swimming pool coatings. told HuffPost he wasn’t surprised to see the peeling. “This is an epoxy,” he said of the coating. “This is something you would do on a concrete — on a shot concrete sort of pool where you have leaking. And then you spray this out. But in a pool, you’re dealing with a whole lot less square feet. So you can do special treatments on it … so it isn’t going to come back up.”.
The renovation, Trump’s team said, was aimed at changing what visitors were seeing day to day. The fresh layer of “American flag blue” coating was part of a flurry of renovation efforts Trump has spearheaded around the capital ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
But the controversy didn’t start only with the water. Trump’s choice of vendor drew criticism from the start. He opted to give the hefty contract to a handpicked vendor instead of following the standard protocol of soliciting bids to avoid favoritism.
The timeline of what happened next is what has people watching the pool now. Once the coating dried and water was pumped back in. it only took a couple days for the algae to begin showing up in force. Algae had been an issue for the pool in years past. and the purpose of Trump’s renovation was to clean it up.
Where Trump wanted a crystal-clear oasis, workers say the result has been the opposite—green water and visible buildup. This week, workers have been seen dumping gallons of hydrogen peroxide into the pool and also wading out to filter the water by hand.
The Trump administration has pinned blame on leftover algae in the pipes. and said its solutions—including use of a nanobubbler—were working. The Interior Department went further. claiming on Wednesday that the problem was solved and posting a misleading photograph of the bright blue sky reflected in the water. a picture that made the pool appear blue as well. HuffPost confirmed Thursday that the water is still green.
Parts of the bottom also appeared to be layered with muck. Even with that, there have been no complaints reported from the local ducks, which have been conducting business as usual.
Trump has blamed Democratic predecessors for causing problems with the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool—problems he says he then had to fix.
Still. the scene visitors described on Thursday—coating peeling in sheets. bright green water. and workers physically treating the pool—has turned Trump’s flagship renovation pitch into a test he can’t talk his way out of. Not after the coating is already coming off. and not after the algae returns so quickly once the water is back in.
Trump Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool $14 million algae bloom hydrogen peroxide nanobubbler U.S. Interior Department 250th anniversary
14 million and it looks like pond water… wow.
So they used that hydrogen stuff and the green water happened?? Seems like a chemistry experiment gone wrong. Either way taxpayers got played.
I swear this is just what happens when they “renovate” stuff for optics. My cousin said algae blooms are normal in any fountain, but then why is the coating peeling like that. Also the article says epoxy so wouldn’t it stick?? sounds like they did it too fast or wrong brand. And if people are taking samples?? that’s kind of gross.
It’s hilarious like he’s a pool expert and then the reflecting pool is literally reflecting algae. But also I don’t really get how hydrogen is even involved? Like did they add hydrogen to clean it or is that just part of the coating process and it’s failing because “glow fizzles” or whatever. People taking souvenirs of the peeling coating sounds like the real crime here, not the algae. Also it probably looks worse because the light is green now? I dunno.