Problems continue to mount with the renovation of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial. A few days after completion, the famous mirror pond turned completely green due to algae, and now the ‘American flag blue’ paint also seems to be coming loose.
Source: CNN, The Washington Post, HuffPost
Despite the efforts of US President Donald Trump and the $14.7 million (12.8 million euros) the federal government spent to renovate the iconic Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial, photos and videos showed on Thursday that the paint job did not have the desired effect the president had hoped for.
Short-lived blue water
Trump promised in April to clean up the “dirty” and “disgusting” water at one of Washington’s most famous monuments. He would reline the basin to fix leaks and then paint the bottom blue. But just days after the reopening on June 6, the algae bloom, which has plagued the pond since the Obama administration, returned. And since Thursday the blue paint layer also seems to be coming loose.
LOOK. Just 12 days after reopening, the paint is now also peeling.
The American news channel CNN distributed images on Wednesday of a piece of blue material that was partly stuck to the bottom and floating to the top. It is unclear whether it is paint or a waterproof protective layer, and the cause of the loosening remains unknown.
According to Eddie Wood, owner of Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the company behind the renovation, the images do not provide enough information about the cause of the problem. But he remains positive: “There are still a number of issues we need to address when we return for maintenance. All problems will be resolved.”
Largest algae growth in years
The news comes just days after videos of the algae growth circulated widely online. According to ‘The Washington Post’ it would be one of the largest algae blooms in recent years.
The Trump administration stated that it was residual algae in the pipes and that the new nanobubbler system would remove it. The Interior Ministry even claimed on Wednesday that the problem had already been resolved and published a misleading photo in which the reflection of the clear blue sky made the water appear blue.
History of problems
The problems follow a series of setbacks that the iconic pond has experienced since it opened a century ago. In 2012, President Barack Obama’s administration spent $34 million to tackle the pond’s persistent algae bloom. But shortly after the renovation, the water again turned into a cloudy algae soup.
Trump used the lack of a solution as a political argument for his own renovation and had the bottom painted over in a color he called “American flag blue”. Initially, the renovation would cost $1.8 million (1.5 million euros), but the price rose to $14.7 million (12.8 million euros). Moreover, the same problems soon reappeared.
The renovation of the Reflecting Pool is one of the many projects the president wants to beautify Washington DC. He is also planning a ballroom in the east wing of the White House, an imposing victory arch and a “National Garden of American Heroes” with 250 lifelike statues of prominent Americans from history.