Trump promised to make Washington's Reflecting Pool "better than ever." Restoration result: algae, dead ducks and cracked bottom

The President blames the vandals who poisoned the water and cut up the coating with a knife

On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the United States in Washington, one of the main national landmarks, the Reflecting Pool, fell into terrible condition. The Donald Trump administration blames vandals; experts suggest that the reason is poor-quality restoration. Democrats are demanding an explanation from the government. We talk about the main American scandal of recent weeks.

The Reflecting Pool is one of Washington DC's most recognizable landmarks. This is a narrow rectangular pond measuring 619 by 51 meters, stretching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.

The pool appeared in the American capital in 1922. Many memorable events in American history took place near the reservoir - for example, it was here in 1963 that Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech against racial segregation to demonstrators. The location is constantly shown in Hollywood films, from Forrest Gump to Marvel's Spider-Man. And the pool constantly causes trouble for the authorities.

In 2009–2012, it was restored, replacing the tiled bottom with concrete; just a few weeks after the work was completed, the pond was completely overgrown with algae. I had to drain it and clean the bowl. A year later, the pool was damaged by builders who were erecting a memorial to the Second World War, so another restoration had to begin in 2015.

Ten years later, Donald Trump drew attention to the landmark. In the fall of 2025, the president shared a video on his social network Truth Social: the footage shows dirty pool water, full of garbage and algae. “I will fix it,” Trump wrote. “Watch carefully, you won’t have long to witness this filth and incompetence of [my predecessor] Biden.”

New renovations began in the spring of 2026 - in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the United States, which the country will celebrate on July 4th. Trump promised that the bottom of the pool would be lined with “the finest, most modern linen” and painted dark blue, the color of the star field on the American flag. “You will have a beautiful, beautiful Reflecting Pool - just the way it should be. He will be much better than ever."

The work lasted from April to June and cost at least $14 million. As soon as they were finished, the pond turned green with algae - just like in 2012 - and the coating began to peel off. Soon, three dead ducks were found in the pool: perhaps some of the algae turned out to be toxic. In addition, it turned out that the installation of a purification system worth $1.7 million was entrusted without any tender to Green Water Solutions, whose owner John Jay Cafaro donated money to the Trump election campaign in 2020.

However, the president had an explanation for the failure: according to his version, the pool was damaged by vandals. Trump announced that the attackers cut the coating with a utility knife and then tore it with their hands (the reservoir is very shallow, no more than a meter deep - this is technically possible). In addition, they allegedly poured chemicals into the pool.

According to the president, he has photographs that confirm his version, and he will show them in court. However, the only published evidence of vandalism so far is a blurry security camera video released by the US National Park Service, in which a man can be seen dipping his hand into the water.

Experts say that the reservoir most likely suffered not from vandals, but from poor-quality restoration. For example, pool specialist Steve Goodale, in a PBS commentary, notes that the coating that covers the bottom is quite difficult to cut with a knife, but it is very easy to make a mistake when laying it. And biochemist Greg Boyer suggests that the water in the pool may have warmed up more than usual due to the new dark blue color of the bottom - which likely triggered the growth of algae.

However, on June 25, the US Department of the Interior announced the arrests of seven people: all are suspected of vandalism. And the National Park Service confirmed on the same day that the coating was cut with something sharp.

Two Democratic senators, Jeff Merkley and Martin Heinrich, have already demanded that the Interior Department explain why the project failed and why companies were brought in without a tender.

“This is a perfect metaphor—it seems like there will never be any other metaphors after it,” wrote The Atlantic columnist Alexandra Petri about the algae-filled Mirror Pool.

"Jellyfish"