The algal bloom in the remodeled Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which was part of President Donald Trump's beautification project, has turned the water chartreuse. The work to clean the pool has been complicated by the harsh realities of chemistry and biology known to any backyard pool owner.
Members of the National Park Service clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool of algae, Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Washington. The remodeled pool with its 'American flag blue' bottom has turned chartreuse from an algal bloom that park service workers struggled to address.
The Washington Monument is once again visible in the refilled pool, but Trump's vision of an azure expanse between the D.C. landmarks has been complicated by the harsh realities of chemistry and biology known to any backyard pool owner. The work has been confounded by the unique challenges posed by the scale of the structure, bigger than 10 Olympic-sized pools, and the source of its water: the often-fetid Tidal Basin.
Algae has plagued the site since it opened more than 100 years ago, but Trump set his sights on addressing it as part of his aggressive push to beautify Washington as the country approaches its 250th anniversary. Teams of National Park Service employees and contractors deployed chemicals and ozone nanobubbles Tuesday in a bid to keep the algae in check, not dissimilar from efforts to clean the pool before Trump's renovation kicked off.
The chemicals and ozone nanobubbles were one part of the effort underway to clean the Reflecting Pool. Workers used a swimming pool-type vacuum cleaner to suck up algae from the bottom, leaving behind clean patches of American Flag Blue paint adjacent to enormous swaths of green algae in a pattern familiar to anyone who has ever vacuumed a carpet before.
The park service said in a statement it is also using hydrogen peroxide, a milder treatment than chlorine and one used in spas and natural swimming pools. As the mitigation work continued, a contractor took off his socks and shoes and rolled up his pants to his knees and proceeded to wade into the pool to place an ozone nanobubble tube as tourists and locals milled about on a sunny morning.
Rick and Ariana Pettit, a couple from Las Vegas who are road tripping in their RV across the United States, posed for photos at the iconic site of protests and marches as cleaning continued. Dressed in American flag-themed leggings and a Make America Great Again leotard, Pettit remarked to her husband, attired in an 'Veteran for Trump' American flag button-up: 'Look, it's already looking more blue.
' Wanzer was blunt in his assessment of what it would take to maintain the pool as an algae-free space: 'They may want to drain it, hose it all down, and start from the beginning with fresh water and treat it as the water comes in.
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