Trump’s blue paint at the Reflecting Pool is already chipping off as renovation costs soar to $14.7M

Factual coreconfirmed by several independent voices

• To complete the project before July 4, the Trump administration awarded no-bid contracts to redo the base of the pool and install a nanobubbling system that was meant to kill off algae growth. “This was highly sophisticated material, industrial strength, that could last for 100 years, applied by very talented people,” Trump explained on Truth Social on June 5. “The material is thick, strong, flexible, and has a natural, beautiful color, the dark blue of the American Flag!” But it didn’t take long for the algae to reappear. [Read: Inside America’s ugly birthday battle] The cloudiness of the pool has triggered a predictable descent into polarizing politics: Some Trump supporters have claimed that the water isn’t actually green, and others have suggested there’s some outside force trying to undermine the pool renovation—and, by extension, Trump himself.

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• It’s sort of Biology 101,” Hans Paerl, a professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina, told me. “This is not rocket science.” Don Anderson, the director of the U.S. National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told me that the shallow water in warm weather created the perfect conditions for algae to flourish, and he’s baffled why no one appeared to anticipate that, either by using water with fewer of the nutrients that help algae grow, or by sealing the system to prevent residual algae from seeping back into the pool. “This is a pretty simple system to control,” he said. “It’s the same idea as keeping a swimming pool clean, but it’s much larger.” It would have been better to do a project like this one in the fall or winter.

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• Eddie Wood—an owner of Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which was paid $14.7 million to line the pool—told me his company is not at fault because they were “only responsible for the installation of a waterproof liner.” Representatives from Green Water Solutions—that is the actual name of the company—which provided the $1.7 million nanobubbling system, did not respond to requests for comment.

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• That project—the one that cost taxpayers at least $16.4 million and came with a nanobubbling system that promised to kill off algae growth—is hidden under 18 to 30 inches of swamp water dense with scraggly plumes of algae. “Yeah, it’s gross!” said one woman passing by. “Quite green,” remarked another.

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• One of the experts, Anderson, told me that the product can be effective but isn’t in all situations, making this particular project “a very expensive trial.” [Read: Thank you for your attention to this birthday] The Department of Interior blamed the Obama administration for an earlier renovation “that resulted in massive algae clumps taking over the pool’s surface following years of construction that cost taxpayers millions upon millions, only to be broken and disgusting days later.” In a lengthy response to my questions, the department’s press team stated that the National Park Service is properly maintaining the Reflecting Pool. “Due to deploying the advanced nanobubbler technology, the algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak,” they wrote in a statement. “We thank President Trump for fixing the Reflecting Pool for good.” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said that the new lining “will permanently seal the Reflecting Pool, which previously leaked 16 million gallons per year and wasted countless taxpayer dollars.” Given some time, Rogers suggested, the color will improve: “A high-tech nanobubble ozone technology will be deployed to kill the algae and keep the Reflecting Pool crystal clear.” Steve Padler, a Washington local who was watching the cleanup operation, told me he empathized with a problem that has vexed several presidents.

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• A woman visiting from Fort Worth, Texas, told me she just hopes it’s fixed in time for America’s 250th birthday, on July 4: “We came and expected it to be blue, and we’re like, What is all this green junk in there?” It’s a question that has ignited internet memes and conspiracy theories, posing the latest political Rorschach test to a divided nation.

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• Even a stone-faced Abraham Lincoln is looking on.

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• Aerial views, as some noted, made it look like a painting by the abstract artist Mark Rothko.

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Disputedincompatible versions — to verify

Framing by sidesame fact, different words — loaded terms highlighted

No notable framing divergence.

Blind spotwhat one side keeps silent

• To complete the project before July 4, the Trump administration awarded no-bid contracts to redo the base of the pool and install a…

  omitted byLeft sideCenterPublic / Agenciescovered byLeft side

• It’s sort of Biology 101,” Hans Paerl, a professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina, told me. “This…

  omitted byLeft sideCenterPublic / Agenciescovered byLeft side

• Eddie Wood—an owner of Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which was paid $14.7 million to line the pool—told me his company is not at fault…

  omitted byLeft sideCenterPublic / Agenciescovered byLeft side

• That project—the one that cost taxpayers at least $16.4 million and came with a nanobubbling system that promised to kill off algae…

  omitted byLeft sideCenterPublic / Agenciescovered byLeft side

• One of the experts, Anderson, told me that the product can be effective but isn’t in all situations, making this particular project “a very…

  omitted byLeft sideCenterPublic / Agenciescovered byLeft side

Sources5 sources cross-checked

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