Crews were spotted frantically pouring gallons of bleach into the Reflecting Pool next to the Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday after President Donald Trump’s renovations were hit with a brutal setback.
Trump, 80, has been bragging for months about how he was repainting the massive pool on the National Mall a specifically chosen shade of “American flag blue.” But just over a week after it was completed and refilled, the large body of water on the National Mall has turned a bright shade of green.
On Tuesday, crews were spotted pouring hydrogen peroxide into the more than 2,000-foot-long pool after National Park Service crews were also out on Monday and over the weekend attempting to clear the blooms of algae that immediately popped up in the body of water after the renovation.
The president had previously said that the renovation would cost less than $2 million and take about a week to complete. Instead, it cost roughly $14 million and took about two months to finish.
The White House referred all questions regarding the Reflecting Pool to the Department of the Interior.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department defended the ongoing efforts to clean it while praising the president’s multi-million dollar renovation.
“The nanobubbler technology has successfully destroyed the algae bloom that has plagued every pool reopening since 1922, most infamously, the Obama pool reopening that resulted in massive algae clumps taking over the pool’s surface following years of construction that cost taxpayers millions upon millions only to be broken and disgusting days later,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“Now, due to deploying the advanced nanobubbler technology, the algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak,” the department added.
In response to the Daily Beast’s follow-up on Tuesday about the use of hydrogen peroxide, the Interior Department provided another statement that indicated the chemicals were also part of “maintaining” it.
“Additionally, hydrogen peroxide, which is a milder treatment than chlorine and is used in spas and specialty pools like natural swimming pools, is also treating the pool,” the spokesperson said. “There are no harmful side effects to marine life or to the environment.”
The algae has left the pool looking bright green and even a neon shade, depending on how the sunlight hit it.
“I think it’s a mess. I’ve never seen it this green before,” said James, who declined to give his last name, but said he lived in Alexandria, VA, and has lived in the D.C. area for decades.
“I was expecting green, but it’s a little greener than I thought it would be,” he observed.
“I think it’s a waste of our tax dollars,” he added. “It’s ridiculous.”
James was frustrated because the president has also been claiming that restaurants were suddenly opening in the nation’s capital and taking credit for making the city safe again.
“He’s 100 percent wrong. The restaurants were doing fine. I’ve lived here for over 30 years, and the city’s never been more peaceful than before he brought the troops in. It was peaceful. It’s all a shame,” he said.
Tourists visiting the National Mall could be seen taking close-up photos of the algae that had spread across the pool’s surface, though it appeared somewhat improved compared to when crews were working on it a few days ago.
Visitors were also fiercely debating whether the pool was still reflecting anything. James observed that it did not look like it was since the president’s renovations. Another woman who declined to give her name observed it was not reflecting the monuments during her stop but suggested it had more to do with the cloudy sky.
While the Reflecting Pool had undergone a full renovation, having been drained and resurfaced, it appeared to be a similar color, or even greener, than the nearby Constitution Gardens Pond, which had not received a multi-million-dollar renovation.
The Interior Department previously blamed “residual” algae for the slime that had bloomed in the refilled pool, which had sat unused for eight weeks during construction.
While some were critical of the bright green sheen on the Reflecting Pool, Bob from Washington, D.C., who also declined to give his last name, dismissed the concerns and argued that it was spores that changed the color.
“It’s such a large volume, you can’t control the chemistry like that,” he said, making a snapping motion with his fingers. “It takes some time, but we’re in America. Everyone wants to have things like this.”
He and his wife, Gretchen, were out in DC on Monday to tour the renovations the president had directed, including repairs to a series of fountains. After visiting the reflecting pool, they were also planning to stop by the newly revealed front of Union Station and the now working fountain at Meridian Park.
