The Reflecting Pool on the National Mall was supposed to be Donald Trump’s shiny showpiece, a freshly resurfaced stretch of American flag blue water timed perfectly for the country’s 250th anniversary. Instead, days after crews refilled it, the Reflecting Pool turned a murky shade of green as algae bloomed across its surface, handing Trump a very public and very photogenic embarrassment right in the heart of Washington. The before and after is brutal. The bold blue he bragged about is now pea soup, and the internet has not been kind.
Here is how it got here. Trump ordered the century old Reflecting Pool drained and resurfaced earlier this year, part of a broader push to spruce up the National Mall before the nation’s big birthday. The old basin, which leaked badly and carried a long history of structural problems, was coated in a dark blue finish meant to seal it and deliver the patriotic look Trump wanted. He was personally invested in the color. During construction last month he drove past the site and boasted that the pool never had the color people wanted but now it was going to have the great color.
The renovation reportedly carried a price tag of roughly $14.6 million, a figure the Interior Department has not disputed. For that money, the Reflecting Pool was supposed to look better than it ever had under any prior administration, a point Trump made repeatedly. He took shots at Barack Obama and Joe Biden, claiming on Truth Social that the pool looked terrible under the two Democrats and positioning the makeover as proof that he simply maintains the nation’s landmarks better than the men who came before him.
Which brings us to the pool boy. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose department oversees the National Park Service, has joked that he has become Trump’s pool guy, the man responsible for keeping the water clear and the boss happy. That joke aged about as well as the water did. Within days of the Reflecting Pool being refilled and reopened, photographs from June 14 showed thick green algae floating across the surface while Park Service workers waded in to skim it off by hand.
The science behind the bloom is not exactly a mystery, which is part of why the timing stings. The Reflecting Pool is shallow, sits in direct sun, holds warm and slow moving water, and tends to collect nutrients, which is a near perfect recipe for algae. One algal biotechnology expert, Alla Silkina of Swansea University, noted that darker surfaces can absorb more solar radiation and push up water temperatures, which can make conditions friendlier for growth, though she stressed that nutrient levels and how long the water sits are usually the bigger drivers. In other words, the very American flag blue coating Trump demanded may be working against him.
None of this is new for this pool. After the last major overhaul in 2012, which ran about $34 million, algae showed up within weeks and forced crews to drain and clean everything all over again while they recalibrated the treatment system. Algae has shadowed nearly every reopening of the basin going back a century. The difference this time is that the current makeover was branded loudly as a personal Trump project, which means the green water is now his to explain.
The administration’s response has been to fight the algae and the optics at the same time. An Interior Department spokesperson said the Park Service is using advanced nanobubble ozone technology to kill algae, pathogens and contaminants, along with hydrogen peroxide as a gentler alternative to chlorine, insisting there are no harmful effects on wildlife or the environment. The same spokesperson could not resist turning the Reflecting Pool into a political jab, claiming that unlike under Obama and Biden, the Park Service is actually maintaining the landmark, and crediting the technology with destroying a bloom that has plagued the pool for generations.
The green water is only the latest wrinkle in a project that was contested long before the algae arrived. The job was awarded as a contract without competitive bidding, according to NBC News, and Burgum was pressed during a congressional hearing about whether the proper rules were followed, telling lawmakers he was positive they were. The Cultural Landscape Foundation sued in May to try to stop the redo entirely, arguing that the pool’s original muted gray basin was not an accident but the actual design intent. An attorney for the group argued that the achromatic basin was the design, not a flaw to be painted over.
For now, the Reflecting Pool sits green and skimmed, with the Park Service declining to say how long it will take to get the water back to the shade Trump promised. The deeper problem is the one no nanobubble can fix. A shallow, sun baked pool in a Washington summer is going to keep growing algae no matter who is in charge or what color the bottom is painted, and every time it does, the man who put his name on the makeover and called his cabinet secretary his pool boy will be the one staring at the green. The 250th anniversary is coming whether the water cooperates or not.
