President Donald Trump positioned himself as a swimming pool expert as he touted the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovations he ordered this year, having put in “more than 100” over his career.
But after spending $14 million in taxpayer funds, the Reflecting Pool now looks arguably worse than it did before.
Aside from the bright green hue of the water — the product of what is reportedly one of the largest algae blooms in recent years — the “industrial-grade swimming pool topping” that Trump chose is already peeling off in sheets.
Visitors took notice of the floating material on Thursday. JS even observed some taking samples of the coating with them as a souvenir of Trump’s Washington.
A man who gave his name as Sean told JS that he had experience working on swimming pool coatings in the past, and did not seem 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 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.
It was controversial from the start, when Trump opted to give the hefty contract to a handpicked vendor instead of following the standard protocol of soliciting bids to avoid favoritism.
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 has been an issue for the pool in years past, but the purpose of Trump’s renovation was to clean it up.
Where Trump wanted to create a crystal-clear oasis, instead, he got a swamp.
Workers have been spotted this week dumping gallons of hydrogen peroxide into the pool and also wading out to filter the water by hand.
The Trump administration pinned blame on leftover algae in the pipes, and said its solutions — including use of a nanobubbler — were working. The Interior Department went so far as to claim on Wednesday that the problem was solved, posting a misleading photograph of the bright blue sky reflected in the water, making it also appear blue.
JS confirmed Thursday, though, that the water is still green. Parts of the bottom also appeared to be layered with muck.
No complaints have been reported, however, from the local ducks, who have been conducting business as usual.
