Green algae have proliferated in the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool just days after a $14.2 million renovation, frustrating Donald Trump’s attempt to turn the water “American flag blue” in time for the US’s 250th birthday. The pool, one of Washington DC’s most historically symbolic attractions and the site of Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I have a dream” speech, was part of Trump’s efforts to recondition the capital during his second presidency.
A no-bid contract for waterproofing and repainting the century-old site was awarded to Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which had previously worked on a swimming pool at one of the president’s golf clubs. The administration claimed “residual” algae would be cleared after renovation, but warm weather caused it to proliferate.
National Park Service employees used skimmers on Monday and added hydrogen peroxide on Tuesday to tackle the algae. The US Department of the Interior said a “nanobubbler technology” water treatment system had “successfully destroyed the algae bloom” and that the algae was being vacuumed up.
In a 5 June post on Truth Social, Trump claimed the renovation used “highly sophisticated material, industrial strength, that could last for 100 years”. The cost, initially put at $1.8 million, rose beyond $14 million.
