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The reflecting pool beneath the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, is one of the most beautiful sights in America's capital.
In ideal conditions, its 600-foot-tall landscape offers dazzling images of the monument's white columns or the imposing obelisk of the nearby Washington Monument.
But when it's hot in the city, algae blooms often turn this hundred-year-old lake green.
US President Donald Trump believed he had a solution to the reflecting pool's problems: painting the bottom a certain shade of blue, which he called “American flag blue.”
The renovation involved painting an area larger than six football fields and installing technology that added oxygen bubbles to the shallow water. The cost to taxpayers exceeded $14 million US.
Trump announced the work on the entire pool in a Truth Social post on June 3. He wrote: “This will be the first time since the day it was built, 1922, that it has worked, and it has worked amazingly, indeed!”
Less than two weeks later, the system appears to be incredibly ineffective.
The water was crystal clear Monday morning, following several days of extreme heat in Washington.
Workers were seen using hand skimmers to remove the algae and then adding buckets of hydrogen peroxide to the pool in an attempt to kill it.
The National Park Service, which manages the area, insists that the lake's appearance is a sign that new water purification technology – an ozone nanobubbler filtration system – removes accumulated algae.
“Using advanced nanobubbler technology, the algae is dead and dying as we speak,” a New York Times spokesperson said. “Thanks to President Trump for fixing the Reflecting Pool.”
Crews are working to remove algae from the renovated reflective pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, including adding hydrogen peroxide in an effort to combat the bloom that has turned the pool green.
It's unclear whether the changes will eliminate the pool's problems with algae blooms, he said Brooks Barrett, who studies marine plants at the Smithsonian Institution.
“The reflecting pool is good for algae,” Barrett told Politico on Tuesday. “If you were trying to biofarm algae, this would be the way to go. It's warm, it's motionless, it's perfect.”
The renovation of the reflection pool is part of Trump's campaign to beautify the capital during the 250th anniversary of America's independence.
Millions of federal dollars spent on repairing fountains, building parks and repairing monuments fall under the jurisdiction of the US government rather than the District of Columbia.
Trump said initially that the renovation of the lake will cost 1.5 million US dollars.
The project sparked controversy when the New York Times revealed that the contract was awarded without a competitive bidding process to a company that worked on a swimming pool at one of Trump's golf clubs.
The Obama administration has spent more than 34 million US dollars oand a major, two-year project to rebuild the lake, including fixing leaks and sealing off concrete that has begun to sink, according to the Associated Press.
