{"id":3052,"date":"2026-06-18T23:33:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3052"},"modified":"2026-06-18T23:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:33:18","slug":"green-water-and-peeling-paint-we-checked-in-on-dcs-troubled-reflecting-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3052","title":{"rendered":"Green water and peeling paint: We checked in on DC\u2019s troubled Reflecting Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>WASHINGTON \u2013 Talking about the refurbished reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, President Trump boasted last week, \u201cWe did a hell of a job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3050\">Supreme Court narrows law banning drug users from owning guns<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>He noted that the project on the National Mall, one of many makeovers he has initiated in Washington in his second term, included workers putting \u201ca swimming pool topping, but industrial strength\u201d on the pool\u2019s surface. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That industrial strength has already been tested. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>Almost halfway down the left side of the pool on Thursday, a partially torn piece of the \u201cAmerican flag blue\u201d sealant rippled in the shallow, algae-filled water. Along the edges of the large rectangular pool, exposed white areas showed potential additional signs of decay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWell, it\u2019s not very reflective,\u201d Marcel Korner, a tourist from the Netherlands visiting the pool, told the Globe. Unaware of Trump\u2019s beautification project, he laughed when he learned it had just been refurbished.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to swim in it,\u201d Korner said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Seeing the blue piece of sealant breaking the surface, another tourist walking by simply said, \u201cYikes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span>Just a week after the $14.7 million project was unveiled in early June, small clumps of green algae started to appear on the water\u2019s surface, and on Tuesday, contractors began using an ozone nanobubbling system combined with hydrogen peroxide, the Interior Department said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a post on X Wednesday, the department declared the pool\u2019s water was \u201ccrystal clear.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But on Thursday, the center of the pool was still a fluorescent green, and tourists leaned over the edge with phones out to document the scene. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3048\">On Thursday afternoon, the Red Sox almost beat the Blue Jays after rallying from three runs down. Almost.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Machinery whirred as self-proclaimed \u201cpool guys\u201d in rubber waders vacuumed the algae from the depths with hoses attached to long metal poles, and a plume of white chemicals spread from one hose submerged near the Lincoln Memorial steps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When asked about the project, workers insisted they were vacuuming only the algae, not the paint, and they did not provide information on the specific type of algae or how it bloomed so quickly. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the Wednesday X post, the Interior Department insisted that the nanobubbler technology would be effective in killing the algae \u201cthat has plagued every Lincoln Reflecting Pool reopening\u201d and that workers would be \u201cvacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Spokespeople for the National Park Service and the Interior Department did not immediately respond to email requests for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One visitor from Montana, S. Arbizu, was in Washington to volunteer at the Great American State Fair being held on the National Mall later this month to commemorate America\u2019s 250th birthday. She joked that Trump should patent and sell bottles of the algae, calling it \u201cTrump\u2019s Algae.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Still, she was disappointed that nature had taken over the pool so soon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt would\u2019ve been the first time I\u2019d seen it in my lifetime clean,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One D.C. resident tore a small piece off from the flapping piece of blue sealant in the water Thursday before hopping on his bike to leave. He planned to show it to his kids.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3046\">Amid Tartan Army takeover, Wu announces Boston and Glasgow, Scotland will be \u2018sister cities\u2019 next year<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAmerican flag blue, right?\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a multi-million dollar restoration championed by President Trump, the pool on the National Mall continues to have problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Green water and peeling paint: We checked in on DC\u2019s troubled Reflecting Pool - 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