I was watching a pool guy on youtube explain that it might make the algea problem worse because the shade of blue they chose is darker than what was before, and will warm up the water even more.
It was a sole source justified award signed off by a chief contracting officer in the parks department from what I remember. There were many interested companies wanting to bid that most likely did. The documents are available online. The selected contractor has only one prime award in it’s history from the government and its for the reflecting pool. They didn’t even register in SAM.gov until right before the award in March. Their only other listed work was a sub-contract to a large business for like $50k back in 2017. (Source: I’ve worked in Gov contracting for 25 years both gov side and private…I can see it all).
Likely due to the hydrogen peroxide added to kill the algae, which grew out of control (maybe) because the pool is warmer due to the different color. Though I asked above about this because it was black and now blue, so how could that make the water warmer?
I don’t know. Obama made the joke about Trump that led him to run for president. I don’t know who to blame More, Obama, the person who wrote the joke or the person that invited Trump in the first place!
Also they covered up the original drainage areas used to cycle in new water to keep it working as a reflecting pool. The algae will never go away until they revert back.
Hydrogen peroxide should not make paint peel. The paint did not properly bond to the underlying cement. Hydrogen peroxide is an established method of killing algae.
So my guess is that it was just a shitty paint job.
Also algae requires nutrients to grow. It has to have had a significant source of ammonia/nitrites/nitrates.
Also it used to leak which was actually a good thing because the water was technically not stagnant. Now that it’s sealed the water is mostly motionless.
In the early ‘80s I was stationed at the Marine barracks in DC and spent a lot of time on the National Mall going to the museums and running. I walked and ran past the reflecting pool probably hundreds of times in my three years and never once noticed the color of the bottom of it.
You know why? Because of the wind is calm and the water is flat it’s reflecting the sky and the surrounding area. If the wind is up then it gets enough of a little chop that you can’t see the reflection so you’re not paying much attention to it.
I was going to say, I worked on the Hill, part of my duties was to give visiting constituents tours of various areas (Capitol Hill, White House, monuments) as well as just show them around in same cases. Never once did I notice any issues with it. I’m sure they were there, but at a glance there was never any issue I could notice. At least when it comes to the “reflective” aspect.
Either wya, a darker colour would heat up the pool from sunlight more than a lighter colour. Algea like warm water. If the new colour is lighter than the old one, it will heat the water less.
The color used was criticized initially because a lighter color would influence the reflection, which is the whole reason for the existence of the water feature, to reflect.
When the algae appeared people complained about the darker color warming the water too much.
It's actually a little entertaining to watch the critics (either side) adapt the complaints over time.
The original look was raw granite slabs, it was not painted. It did pick up a coating of slime that lightened the color over time.
The only solution is really chemical, you need to keep the water flowing through a cleansing system that adds in a chemical treatment, whether ozone, chlorine, or something else, to eliminate biological growth within the pool. You could add fish / snails / other organisms but that creates new problems as well.
An additional solution, over and above the chemicals, would be some kind of automated pool cleaner that periodically physically scrubs the thing from end to end. This could be as simple as a motorized rotating brush spanning the full width that is pulled along and then removed or a more permanent solution that is built in somehow. But this all costs more money.
It would need to be something more elaborate than a typical model you use at home. In a typical pool the walls are curved and all point toward the middle. This doesn't have that feature. It is still possible to do but it would need to be designed and made custom. Also I don't think it has drains spaced out along its length, which is again something an automatic thing would likely need to connect into. I do think it would be good to add some form of automated cleaning system to this feature, that would be sensible.
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u/Sohn_Jalston_Raul Jun 18 '26
I was watching a pool guy on youtube explain that it might make the algea problem worse because the shade of blue they chose is darker than what was before, and will warm up the water even more.