In April, President Donald Trump announced a project to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and paint the bottom “Stars and Stripes Blue” to address leaks and dirty water. But now he sees green.
So is the company hired to do the job. One of the companies, a donor to President Trump and connected to Mar-a-Lago’s neighbors, reportedly received a $1.7 million no-bid contract to improve water quality. Another company will earn $14.7 million to resurface the pool.
The renovation work was declared complete and the pool was refilled by June 9th. Since then, it has turned green due to algae. On June 16, USA TODAY confirmed that the color was still there and that workers had added hydrogen peroxide. By June 18, images surfaced of what appeared to be blue paint peeling off the pool floor.
With the basin set to be drained again, we spoke to an expert on algae blooms to understand the science behind President Trump’s pool issue.
Patricia Glibert, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, says three things have to be in water. “And all of the building blocks of cells, such as algae, nitrogen, and phosphorus, are already dissolved in natural water.”
“If you add sunlight and heat, the algae will start to grow,” Glibert said. And they grow rapidly, doubling their biomass once a day. “Over the course of seven to 10 days, a large amount of algae bloom can occur.”
Gribert said a possible contributing factor is that darker pool floors cause the water to warm up faster. “Many algae grow faster in warmer water, so that may have been a factor, but it wasn’t the only one.”
Water depth is also a factor. “Like all photosynthetic organisms, algae grow on light and nutrients, and in shallow systems, light can reach all the algae, even at the bottom of the reflecting pool,” Glibert said.
As for hydrogen peroxide treatment, Glibert said it is effective at killing algae, but it only solves today’s problems. “That algae sinks to the bottom and rots, releasing nitrogen and phosphorus into the water, and some of the algae continues to grow, creating an ongoing problem.”
Reflecting pools will require improved filtration as well as continuous monitoring of water chemistry and possibly treatments such as algaecides and nanobubblers, Glibert said.
“It’s clear that the treatment they’ve been getting is not enough.”
Atlantic Industrial Coatings and Green Water Solutions were awarded the contract for the work. Atlantic Industrial Coatings will be paid $14.2 million to resurface the pool, and Green Water Solutions will be paid $1.7 million to improve water quality.
USA TODAY reached out to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, but calls were not returned prior to publication. A post on the company’s website indicated that some areas of the reflecting pool required repairs and the pool would need to be drained to complete.
The Home Office previously said in a statement that “all pools that have reopened since 1922” have been plagued by algae blooms. USA TODAY cataloged a list of previous efforts to address pool issues.
President Trump rejected a $300 million Biden-era plan to replace the granite and instead decided to sandblast the bottom, caulk and resurface the surface. President Trump has since blamed vandalism for the renovation problems, drawing attention to the cost of the former president’s renovation project.
President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on April 23, “You can get a better product for a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time.”
Contributor: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
This is a developing story and may be updated.
