Swamp. Vomit. Mountain Dew. These are just a few of the comparisons Washingtonians and tourists have drawn to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which filled with algae last week after President Donald Trump’s multimillion-dollar renovation project went awry.

“It smells worse than it looks. That’s just… it’s not what Trump promised,” said Joe Cribbs, a pedestrian walking near the Reflecting Pool. 

Algae blooms in the Reflecting Pool are not new — the water feature has been turning similar shades of green since its opening in the early 1920s — but experts say the administration’s renovation likely worsened the problem. 

Dr. Peter May, an algae expert and ecologist at the University of Maryland, specifically pointed to three mistakes made by the administration during the overhaul: the color, the water and the season. 

Trump inherited a Reflecting Pool last renovated by President Barack Obama in 2012, during which a light concrete material was used to line the base of the fountain. This allowed the fountain to reflect light and heat away from the water, May said. But once Trump directed the National Park Service to paint the pool a dark “American flag blue” — the highlight of his Washington makeover to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary — the temperature of the water rose. 

“It absorbs more light, more heat, and extra heat is a benefit for algae growth,” May said, adding that this algal bloom will likely not be the last one we see this summer. 

That is due in part to the water the park service filled the pool with, the same that comes from any sink in the city. May said the city’s tap water is high in both phosphorus and nitrogen, nutrients that are perfectly safe for people to drink, but also fuel algae growth. Add to that the summer heat — the renovation is set to be finished for America’s semiquincentennial on the Fourth of July — and the monument has quickly become an ideal incubator for the fast-growing flora. 

May said those elements, along with the pool’s shallow depth, makes it “a perfect system for creating an algae bloom,” but that does not mean it needs to stay that way. He said that a natural solution, like the installation of a subsurface wetland near the pool, could filter out the algae-boosting nutrients from the city’s tap water with ease, and for a fraction of what the administration has spent on the renovation so far. 

Dr. Rosalina Stancheva Christova, a professor of aquatic ecology at George Mason University, echoed May’s sentiments in an interview with NPR, citing “shallow, stagnant water, strong sunlight and no shade” for the algae growth.

“It could happen every single summer,” Christova said. “But it seems that the disturbance of the pond during the renovations [is] accelerating this process.”

Lime green plant life is not the only new addition to the Reflecting Pool. This week, rows of tall security cameras were erected along the north and south walks of the water feature, increasing the surveillance around the pool ahead of America 250.

The cameras arrive in the wake of accusations levied by the president that vandals have sabotaged his Reflecting Pool project. Trump alleged that individuals took to the new blue coating with knives, which he said led to the paint coming apart. 

A top park service official reiterated Trump’s claim in a court document filed Wednesday, alleging that the blue sealant “was cut with a sharp knife or razor,” which led to the delamination of the material. The administration has not published evidence to back up these claims, yet according to Trump, there have been six arrests made in connection to the purported vandalism. One person has been charged so far: Olympic canoe competitor David Hearn.  

Passersby and political commentators alike have likened the pool predicament to a microcosm of the Trump administration writ large, drawing direct comparisons to the president’s 2016 campaign to “drain the swamp” in D.C.

“They make up a problem, they make up a solution. He promises it’s going to be $1.8 million. He promises it’s going to be good for 100 years. It balloons to over $15 million. It doesn’t even last one week,” Bob Wegner, a pedestrian visiting the Reflecting Pool, said.

The Reflecting Pool has become the focal point of Trump’s attempts to update and personalize iconic landmarks across Washington, from the White House to the District of Columbia’s public golf courses — all of which The New York Times estimates could potentially cost more than $1 billion. His name was added to the front of the John F. Kennedy Center, before a federal judge ordered its removal. He also plans to construct a 250-foot Triumphal Arch to commemorate the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. Banners with Trump’s image have been seen on the exteriors of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Labor as well.

The pool, like the White House ballroom, has become a visual symbol of the Trump administration’s wrecking ball to democratic norms. May says with current conditions and the blue hue, we could potentially expect a new bloom again.

“Well algae is great, it grows very fast and so a bloom happens overnight and or during the day because of photosynthesis,” May said of the organism’s unpredictable growth.

Only one thing is certain, he said: “The conditions are perfect for it right now. It could happen, and it could happen very quickly.”

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