Trump's $14m Reflecting Pool renovation turns green as algae returns, satellite data shows worst bloom in five years

The renovation that was supposed to impress

President Donald Trump ordered a $14 million overhaul of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool this April to fix leaks and repaint it what he called 'American flag blue' for the country's 250th independence anniversary on July 4. The no-bid contract went to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia firm that had previously worked on a swimming pool at one of Trump's golf clubs. Costs ballooned from an early $1.8 million estimate to $14 million, drawing sharp criticism. The 618-metre-long basin was drained, resurfaced, and refilled on June 4. Trump called the result 'clean, beautiful water.'

Our basin is bigger than skyscrapers.

The algae strikes back

Within days the pool turned shades of green. By the weekend, tourists photographed a milky, algae-choked surface, while blue paint was reported peeling off in chunks and floating to the surface. The Washington Post asked Alana Menendez, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia, to analyse Sentinel‑2 satellite data. She found that the chlorophyll‑a concentration in mid‑June was the highest recorded in any June since 2021, and among the highest levels in any month over the past two years. Hot, sunny weather during the refilling period fed the bloom. Menendez noted a similar spike had occurred during an unseasonably warm March day before construction began.

Nanobubbles and an Iran comparison

The Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, responded by deploying an ozone nanobubble system to kill algae and pathogens. Workers were seen dumping hydrogen peroxide into the pool and vacuuming dead algae. The department insisted the water was 'crystal clear' and blamed 'Fake News Media' for suggesting otherwise. A tweet from the press office went so far as to compare the algae operation to the administration's recent conflict with Iran.

The Reflecting Pool water is crystal clear, and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the Reflecting Pool – just like the destroyed Iranian Navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf.

The comparison came as a peace deal with Iran left Trump without written commitments on ballistic missiles, mirroring an algae problem that has historically plagued pool reopenings since the 1920s.

National priority, overtime shifts

The administration labelled the cleanup a 'regional and national priority' in an email to park service staff, according to MeidasTouch. Employees were urged to work 12‑hour shifts of 'scrubbing and pump out operations' to ready the monument for July 4. A department spokesperson told The Independent that the Trump administration was 'marshaling in the necessary resources' and attacked previous administrations for letting 'our national treasures descend into filth and disrepair.' The spokesperson said the nanobubble technology was 'actively killing algae, pathogens (e.g., E. coli), and contaminants that have long plagued the Reflecting Pool since 1922.'

Late‑night mockery

The visual contrast between the intended 'American flag blue' and the algal green quickly became a punchline. Hosts of US late‑night shows joined the ridicule. Jimmy Kimmel remarked that 'now it is the colour of the Mexican flag,' while Jimmy Fallon quipped that 'Trump wanted Avatar and ended up with Shrek.' The pool, the site of Martin Luther King’s 1963 'I Have a Dream' speech, became a new symbol of a renovation gone wrong.