A costly refurbishment of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool pushed by President Donald Trump reportedly has a glaring omission. The work seals the basin but ignores a persistent issue. The project, now priced at $13.1 million, aims to stop leaks from expansion joints and coat the 6-acre pool in a shade Trump calls “American flag blue.”
Yet the renovation reportedly skirts a deeper, long-documented problem: a crumbling plumbing network that circulates and cleans the four million gallons of water the pool holds. Without addressing it, experts claim, even a freshly painted basin risks becoming stagnant and slime-covered during Washington’s humid summers.
Donald Trump spending millions won’t solve reflecting pool’s underlying issue, report says
According to The New York Times, the pipes, which are part of the plumbing network of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, are 12-inch plastic conduits buried underground. Soil pressure causes them to crack and leak regularly. When they fail, maintenance crews must disconnect the reflecting pool from its filtration plant. Repairs can take weeks.
In warm weather, the still water quickly breeds green algae across the bottom. Kym Hall, a former National Capital Area director for the National Park Service, summarised the challenge: “It’s almost impossible to maintain the water level that is required to make the pool reflective. It’s like pouring water into a colander.”
During Donald Trump’s first term, the park service concluded that replacing thousands of feet of piping was the only lasting fix. Nothing was reportedly done. The current administration says pipe replacement will start in the fall but has shared no timeline or specifics. Until then, the sealed basin remains vulnerable to the same cycle of leaks and algae blooms.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended the reflecting pool project on Sunday. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, he argued that “everybody should be celebrating President Trump getting a project done.” He criticized a prior renovation under Barack Obama, which cost $34 million and shut the pool for two years. “There was no outrage then. There should be outrage,” Burgum said. “That thing turned into an algae-driven slew.”
However, for all the accelerated reflecting pool work, the fundamental flaw remains untouched beneath the surface.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
