Reflecting Pool Renovation Cost $14 Million And People Are Furious

[00:00:00]So, the American people just spent $14 million of our taxpayer money and we are paying for a reflection pool in Washington that now looks a little bit murky and it's algae fililled. Some are asking the question, did President Trump make a mistake or what is going on? Let me just ask you this question. I don't care if you're a Republican, a Democrat, an independent, something else. If you just spent $14 million on a project, would you expect it to look pristine? It would be perfect. Let me know down in the comment section because here's what's happening. I want to show you a few clips. Look at this one right here.

[00:00:42]>> President Trump's $14 million Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool project went from a dark American flag blue to then a murky neon green. And now, according to the US Interior Department, crystal clear blue again. The Trump administration has been deploying the latest technology in algae remediation to the reflecting pool. They sent in crews clad in waiters to vacuum up clumps of algae and dispatched workers to dump gallons of hydrogen peroxide in the pool to clear it up. The Department of Interior says a state-of-the-art filtration technology known as an ozone nanobubbler was used. The Interior Department's press team says the advanced nanobubbler technology very effectively killed the algae that has plagued every Lincoln reflecting pool reopening, most infamously Obama's reopening since 1922. The reflecting pool water is crystal clear, and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the reflecting pool. We went to see it for ourselves this morning, and it appears to be improving as dueling pumps continue to clean it out. The Interior Department says that the nanobubbler and a full-time maintenance crew from US Fish and Wildlife Services should make these fixes more permanent. Whether the algae resurfaces is an open question.

[00:01:50]>> Okay, now here's the issue. President Trump paid $14 million to well fix the the leaks and and go and put a new uh you know coat of paint where it's going to be uh you know the American flag blue. Here's the issue. It's still a very shallow body of water. It is very hot. Putting dark paint on a pool bottom makes the water a little bit warmer.

[00:02:16]That's part of the issue. So, warm water and a lot of water means there's going to be algae. But I want to show you something. Look at this.

[00:02:26]As reported, the reflecting pool is greener than I have ever seen it before due to algae.

[00:02:38]And it's going to be green. It is going to look darker because of the paint.

[00:02:44]Again, I'm not here to say what President Trump did was good or bad, okay? I haven't actually seen in person.

[00:02:51]But this is the reason I'm I'm bringing this up. Is this a problem where we are spending our taxpayer dollars on things that are well impacting certain people but now it's going to be a work in progress. Now some are saying that this is normal. This happens every single time that we do a renovation like this that these are the startup issues where getting the pumps going, the algae's coming out. Now we got to pretty much suck it out. Okay. Now, I mean, I I I want to know, are people blowing this out of proportion? Is this not a big deal? But then I also bring up the question, it's $14 million. $14 million is not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, keeping in mind how much the federal government spends on every single project. $14 million is not a lot. But at the same time, this is what many people are saying is we keep on uh turning our shoulder, turning a blind eye to, well, it's only $14 million. No big deal. What about the $14 million there, $20 million on the next project, $300 million on another project? All those things add up. And do we have the money right now to continue making some of these mistakes? Look at this.

[00:04:13]>> There it is.

[00:04:15]There's the paint peeled up and floating in the reflecting pool.

[00:04:21]Part of Trump's $14 million project to repaint the reflecting pool >> blue.

[00:04:31]Now, some people say that the reason why this is happening is because these workers are pouring hydrogen peroxide into the pool and then they're going to vacuum up the algae, which is actually scraping the the paint and that's causing it to pop up. Now, again, I I'm not I'm not a pool expert here, but neither is President Trump, okay? But hopefully we're going to get this problem fixed because when I turn on uh the news, when I open up Tik Tok or YouTube or Instagram, this seems like this is the one thing everybody's talking about is what is going on with this reflection pool. I want to play something else for you. Amid the ongoing battle here to somehow knock down this algae bloom that has turned this entire pool green, and they're trying very hard to knock it down. Now, we have word of this piece of blue coming up and being spotted in at least one area there.

[00:05:29]Whether this is part of that $14 million job that put a liner underneath here of that color blue or whether it was knocked loose somehow in the cleaning process, we just don't know. An expert in pool linings told us that the type of chemicals being used in some parts here could make such a thing happen. But even if that is the case, the issue is it is is this a localized thing in one spot or does it represent a broader issue? That would be a much bigger problem. As it is, the battle goes on here to try to get rid of the green even as the conditions are perfect for algae growth.

[00:06:08]Hot weather, lots of water, and there you can see just tiny traces of the blue that is supposed to prevail here.

[00:06:16]>> Okay. Interesting. Now, I can tell you from experience that I used to have a a pond at my at my house and and this is a great little pond, you know, nice little water feature, but we've since got rid of it. It was a problem. Okay. It was shallow water and if unless the water was really being cycled through through a filtration system and running very quickly, the algae just continued to build up. It was something that I just couldn't stand it. So, we just got rid of the pond. But again, it's a great idea, but especially in times when it's very hot, it's not the best idea. I want to show you something, though, because everyone's saying that President Trump made a mistake. Well, this isn't the first time a president has made a mistake to try to fix their reflection pool. Okay, it's happened before.

[00:07:07]There's been multiple renovations. Look at this one.

[00:07:10]>> Just cleaned and over opened up a month ago. Looks like nothing was done. It's real nasty.

[00:07:17]>> The pool was closed for almost 2 years and underwent a $34 million renovation project.

[00:07:23]>> It'd be nice if it was clearer water so that one could reflect without seeing the algae. The first thought was, "Oh, that's kind of nasty."

[00:07:33]>> Again, it doesn't that was back in 2012 that when President Obama spent $34 million to uh fix this, again, this this is a common issue. And so, some people are bringing this up is the reflection pool. If it's not going to be crystal clear water, if it's not going to be nice and blue, if it's not going to show the reflection every single time, do we continue to spend the money on it? Or do we continue to waste money trying to fix something that may never be fixed? But I want to know your thoughts. What do you think? Should we have spent the $14 million to paint the reflection pool dark blue, or do you think we're just continuing to spin our wheels and this will be a problem moving forward? Let me know down in the comment section below.

[00:08:19]But again, that's what we know as of today. So, thank you guys for watching.

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