Reflecting Pool Renovated, Refilled, Then Promptly Turned Green
A $14.6 million no-bid contract promised a blue pool in two weeks. The pool took months — and turned green within a day of refilling.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been turning green since Woodrow Wilson was in office. Algae blooms there in warm weather because Washington is built on a marsh, the pool is shallow, and nutrients have nowhere productive to go. This is not a secret. The Park Service has documented it. Tourists have photographed it. The pool functioned, in the sense that it reflected things.1
On April 23, 2025, the president announced he was personally intervening, describing the pool as "filthy dirty" and saying the floor would be repainted "American flag blue." He estimated two weeks and $1.5–2 million.1 The contract ultimately awarded totaled $14.6 million and went to a Virginia firm that had never held a federal contract.2 He first said the contractor had called him directly and had worked on his own swimming pools; he later said he did not know the contractor.3
The emergency exemption used to skip competitive bidding requires a finding that open competition would cause "serious injury to the government." Asked in a congressional hearing what that injury was, the Interior Secretary cited deferred maintenance and the need for the pool to look presentable before July 4.4 A preservation group sued, arguing that painting a historically unpainted concrete surface violated federal preservation law.5
The pool was refilled in early June 2026. Within a day, algae was visible — driven by the same causes that have applied since 1922: warm, shallow water, nutrient load, and a Washington summer. The newly darkened bottom may also raise water temperature, which accelerates blooms.6 The Interior Department deployed hydrogen peroxide and nanobubble ozone and described the algae as "residual" and "part of the normal startup process."7 Workers were observed skimming the surface by mid-June.8
The project began as a two-week, two-million-dollar proposition and became a months-long, $14.6 million renovation with a pending lawsuit and an algae emergency. The pool, painted the color of the sky, reflected something closer to the bottom of a stock pond. It remains open to visitors.
"It’s not supposed to look like you’re going to dive in."— historians, quoted by CNN, on painting the pool blue
References & Citations
- PolitiFact — "Fact-checking Trump on the Reflecting Pool renovation," politifact.com, May 28, 2026.
- Artnet News — "The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Is Being Overhauled by Trump’s Pool Contractor," news.artnet.com, 2026.
- The Hill — "Trump denies knowing Reflecting Pool contractor," thehill.com, 2026.
- PBS NewsHour — "Lawsuit challenges Trump’s Reflecting Pool project as costs soar," pbs.org, 2026.
- CNN — "Historians criticize Reflecting Pool makeover as group sues," cnn.com, May 18, 2026.
- NBC News — "Trump wanted the Reflecting Pool ‘American flag blue.’ Algae are turning it green," nbcnews.com, June 2026.
- CNN — "Trump administration turns to hydrogen peroxide to beat back algae," cnn.com, June 16, 2026.
- The Hill — "Hydrogen peroxide used to tackle reflecting pool algae," thehill.com, June 2026.