Why the Show Pool Is Full of Algae After Trump’s Renovation

Wednesday morning, workers poured hydrogen peroxide into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.

The chemical is the latest attempt by the Interior Department to stop an algae bloom that has turned the pond green, despite President Donald Trump’s pricey renovations to create a “blue American flag” in his time. 250th anniversary of the country. Hotter temperatures and climate change are some of the factors that could trigger the outbreak.

The The Trump administration spent more than $14 million to replace the pool before it happened celebrations across the US capital. The work was done under a non-funding contract with a company that has never worked for the federal government. (However, it has worked on President Donald Trump’s golf game, according to The New York Times.)

Algae started to form within a day of the modified pond being uncovered last week. Spokesperson for the Department of the Interior he told CNN that the bloom was caused by “residual algae from the supply lines, which have been dormant for eight weeks.”

One of the issues that seems to be the source of water. The Reflecting Pool usually draws water from the nearby Tidal Basin, which often contains algae. In times of high algae, the water is diverted to municipal drinking water. The U.S. Department of the Interior did not immediately respond to questions from WIRED about the current source of water for the pond.

Another issue is the weather. The high temperatures create “the perfect storm for (algae) blooms,” says Hans Paerl, a former professor at the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina. Stagnant water, Pearl says, exacerbates the problem. “Oceans and wetlands all over the world—they all have this problem this time of year.” Warmer-than-normal weather is expected to hit Washington, DC, over the weekend, which could make flower control difficult.

Paerl said again the other, the driver that the Trump administration has shown is not just rushing to solve: climate change.

“It’s just too hot, and the flowers are spreading all over the world,” he said.

Beyond hydrogen peroxide, the Interior Department is “deploying the most advanced nanobubble ozone technology” to keep algae at bay, an agency spokesperson told WIRED in an email.

Trump touted the work on the pool, which includes painting it blue and repairing the spillway, and said a company hired by the government would be able to fix it “in less time, less money.”