No-bid contract to turn DC’s reflecting pool blue goes to firm with ties to Trump | Washington DC
Donald Trump’s latest beautification plan for Washington, D.C. — the restoration of the 2,000-foot-long reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial — has been the subject of accusations that a $6.9 million contract to complete the project was hastily awarded to a company that renovated a swimming pool at the president’s golf course in Virginia.
The New York Times reported that the no-bid contract for the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool was awarded to New Canton, Va.-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings on April 3 — despite company records showing it had not previously been awarded a federal contract.
One of the company’s owners, Curtis Wood, declined to comment on the contract to the Times.
Keeping the pool clear to reflect has been a problem since it was built in 1922. It is between 18 inches and 30 inches deep, holds approximately 6.75 million gallons of water and has no natural flow. In Washington State’s hot, humid summer, the pool turns green from algae.
Barack Obama’s presidential administration spent more than $35 million trying to solve the algae problem, but the problem persisted. Joe Biden’s administration has chosen to simply gut it and refill it every year. In addition to the algae problem, the pool leaks 16 million gallons of water each year, which the National Park Service (NPS) – and ultimately taxpayers – are forced to replace.
There are signs that pool clarity has become an obsession for Trump, alongside other projects the president is keen on, including building a vast White House ballroom and a “liberty arch” to rival or surpass the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, ahead of the United States’ 250th birthday celebrations this summer.
“You’re going to end up with a beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool, the way it’s supposed to be,” Trump said in April. “Much better than ever, actually.”
Trump also suggested he knew a man who could help him. “I have a guy who is incredible in the pool,” Trump said. “He looked at it. He called me. He said, ‘Sir, we can do something about this.'”
Trump said he suggested making the pool turquoise “like the Bahamas” but opted for the contractor’s suggestion of “American flag blue.”
The president recently released an AI-generated image of himself in a gold inflatable pool chair and his vice president, JD Vance; his secretary of state, Marco Rubio; his Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum; and an unidentified woman in a checkered bikini relaxing in a light blue version of the reflecting pool.
Trump said earlier in the spring that he had decided to paint the reflecting pool blue. The Times found that the administration used a federal contract exemption designed to avoid “serious harm, financial or otherwise, to the government” to award the contract without soliciting competing bids.
“This project is now being completed at ‘Trump speed’ to ensure this iconic landmark is fully restored before the 250th anniversary. [US anniversary] celebrations,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement to the Times.
In addition to flouting planning rules by paving over the Rose Garden and demolishing the East Wing to make way for his ballroom, and erecting a statue of Christopher Columbus on the White House grounds, Trump has drawn criticism for his swimming pool project.
Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, told the Times that the renovations and changes had “become a secret project in which the president’s friends and associates are rewarded without any public scrutiny.”
However, it is not certain that painting the pool blue will solve its major problem: a filtration system that is not up to standard. The pool can turn green with or without a blue background.
“Painting is not going to solve this problem,” Aquatic Council President Tim Auerhahn told the Times. Auerhahn also said Trump’s recent decision to visit the pool in a motorcade may have exacerbated the leaks.
“If this were my project, I would need an immediate inspection,” Auerhahn added.
