Trump’s Attempts to Fix Reflecting Pool Continue as Administration Pays $2.65M More to Address Algae

Trump’s $14 million Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool beautification project began earlier this year in an attempt to restore the landmark

NEED TO KNOW

• Donald Trump’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovations are ongoing, as it’s now been revealed that the administration has paid a company $2.65 million to help clean up the algae
• American Ag Energy, Inc. has reportedly been hired amid continued issues with the pool
• The project began earlier this year in an attempt to restore the landmark before the country’s 250th birthday, which occurred on July 4

The Trump administration has reportedly hired another company to help clean up the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool amid ongoing issues with the iconic landmark.

Government spending data figures have shown that the Department of Interior, which is overseeing the renovation project, is paying $2.65 million to American Ag Energy, Inc. to help with water supply and irrigation systems.

The company has been hired to help with the Reflecting Pool after images showed the water blooming with bright green algae earlier in the summer, CNN and NBC4 Washington reported.

The Department of Interior, American Ag Energy and the White House did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Trump’s $14 million Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool beautification project began earlier this year in an attempt to restore the landmark and turn it “American Flag Blue“ before the country’s 250th birthday, which occurred on July 4.

However, the pool — which stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument along the National Mall — has hit multiple problems since it reopened.

The pool was initially drained and resurfaced in an attempt to fix structural issues that caused chronic leaking and recolor the bottom and sides of the pool to Trump’s chosen patriotic shade. However, algae was spotted on the surface of the water just after the pool was refilled.

Richard Rosen, the CEO of American Ag Energy — based in Massachusetts — told CNN that one of the directors at the company had told him about the pool’s algae problem, before he saw reports about it in the news.

“I realized that I actually knew how to solve this problem,” Rosen told the outlet. 

“They want me to solve it the right way, okay, and they’re doing a very good job, trying to do the right thing and I will be very helpful to them,” he continued, referring to the National Park Service (NPS), according to CNN.

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Rosen also told NBC News of the project, “Our goal is to have nothing growing in the water.”

Rosen said his team was conducting a biological and chemistry profile of the pool, with an end goal of ensuring that it remains free of algae, or any other organism that might cause problems, NBC4 Washington stated.

Rosen told the outlet that he thinks $2.7 million should be enough to do the job, however, he can’t be 100% sure. “I don’t believe in anything until I actually see it work,” he said.

Rosen added to the outlet of taking on the job, “I don’t want any politics in this at all. We don’t have any political motivations here. This is really science and technology and engineering.”

Trump has repeatedly used the Reflecting Pool renovation to take shots at his predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, blaming them for allowing it to languish into disrepair and discoloration. 

The pool, which was first installed in 1923, was previously renovated in 2012 to reengineer its circulation and filtration system, though the shallow water feature has been notoriously difficult to keep clean.

Last month, Trump admitted that there had been “some contractor error” during the pool’s flawed renovation. 

The president said, “Numerous other events took place, including using an acid-like material on the just installed grass adjoining the Pool … There was substantial other damage to the Reflecting Pool, also but, unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself.”

Despite this, he then conceded that there was “some contractor error done by rushing the job” in time for the Fourth of July celebrations, but explained that only a “very small area” of the pool was affected and that it was “relatively inconsequential.”

Trump concluded by saying that security cameras “have been, and are being, installed.”

The president has openly accused former Olympian David Hearn of vandalizing the iconic landmark, as well as pushing for U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro to reconsider a motion she filed in July to dismiss the case against Hearn.

The former slalom canoeist was arrested on June 19, and later explained that he stopped to look at the pool while on a bike ride and reached into the water to see what a detached piece of liner felt like.

Hearn was indicted on one charge of destruction of property of $1,000 or more on July 2 and pleaded not guilty a week later, according to D.C. Superior Court records previously reviewed by PEOPLE.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman previously granted the motion to drop the charges, and said he would decide later whether prosecutors would have the chance to charge Hearn in the future.

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