First, the new paint job appeared uneven. Then, an algae bloom turned the water an acid green. Now, large chunks of coating are peeling off the basin, creating islands of “American flag blue” alongside patches of pea green in a dark, murky soup.
The reflection pool at the Lincoln Memorial seems to be rejecting its makeover.
President Donald Trump’s project to reseal and paint the concrete basin of the century-old pool that stretches between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington was finished nearly two weeks ago, in time for the country’s 250th birthday, as he demanded. But it has been nothing but a headache for the administration since.
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The Interior Department said on social media this week that its workers had “killed the algae” that had been hastened on by the heat and humidity.
The water, it boasted, was now “crystal clear.”
The posts were accompanied by images of the Washington Monument reflected in deep blue waters, an apparent rebuttal to criticism from experts who say the pool’s waters will not appear a brilliant blue until the government tackles the underlying problems that have stumped previous presidential administrations.
But on Friday afternoon, the murky water was stained by loose clumps of algae even where National Park Service staff members had scrubbed away the bright green blooms along the bottom of the basin.
A pipe carries acid-green water from the Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool to a nearby storm drain in Washington. Credit: ALEX KENT/NYT
The new coating was also missing at least two large sections — one gap was about the size of a park bench, with a sheet several inches long flapping in the waves. Underneath appeared to be the original concrete basin.
Alex Hobe, 52, was standing at the pool’s edge, waving a small chip of paint. He had been making food deliveries in the area when he decided to see the pool renovations. When he spotted the chip floating in the water, he fished it out. It was semi-transparent and rough to the touch.
Mr Hobe called the pool renovation “a complete failure,” but expressed sympathy for the workers who were standing knee-deep in the green water and scrubbing away under the hot sun.
“They’ve been out here for days,” he said.
On Friday night, Mr Trump blamed at least some of the problems on “vandalism” by people who he said were out “to destroy and demean our beautiful work.”
A television news crew sets up as a National Park Service worker cleans algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool. Credit: ALEX KENT/NYT
“The algae is 75% gone, and the condition will soon be completely remedied, and the area that was vandalized, fortunately, is just a small area of damage, and will be fixed early next week,” he wrote on social media.
A 67-year-old man was arrested Friday and charged with destroying government property.
The man, David C. Hearn, who is a three-time Olympian in canoeing, denied those charges in an interview, saying he had merely touched the separated pieces of blue paint floating at the pool to examine the material out of curiosity.
The pool is plagued by multiple problems, including leaky and broken pipes that often leave it disconnected from its filtration system.
Those issues were not addressed by the recent renovations. Workers have instead tried a series of temporary fixes, including adding hydrogen peroxide to the water this week in an attempt to kill the algae.
The clean-up effort was hard to miss on Friday.
A National Park Service crew works to clean algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool in Washington on Friday. Credit: ALEX KENT/NYT
Sightseers stepped over pipes carrying acid-green water from the pool to nearby storm drains, and they raised their voices to speak over the whirring water filtration systems and fuel-guzzling water pumps.
Most workers at the pool wore National Park Service gear. It was unclear if the work was related to the installation of a water-purification system.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that a business tied to a longtime supporter of Mr Trump was given a no-bid contract to install a system earlier this spring.
In many cases, visitors appeared to gaze with more interest at the contents of the murky pool than towards the historic monuments reflected in its waters.
“I don’t even know what they’re doing,” one woman exclaimed as she walked towards the Lincoln Memorial.
Trey Quealy, 29, from West Virginia, had stopped by the pool with a friend after seeing a show at the Kennedy Center on Thursday night.
“Of course we had to stop by and see what everyone is talking about,” Mr Quealy said, adding that he worked in supply chain logistics and sympathised with how difficult it might be to find the right professional to do the job.
A section of blue paint appears separated from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as it floats in the murky water amid an algal bloom. Credit: ALEX KENT/NYT
The Times has reported that the Interior Department awarded a no-bid contract to a firm that Mr Trump said he had recommended because it had previously worked on the swimming pools at one of his golf clubs, a decision that skirted federal bidding laws.
But Mr Quealy noted that he had seen the pool many times before Mr Trump’s renovation and had never thought twice about its appearance.
“I thought it looked great,” Mr Quealy recalled.
“And it took me back to watching ‘Forrest Gump,’” referring to the scene from the 1994 movie where two characters wade into the water.
He added, “I would not have thought it was a necessary change.”
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