Investigating Coating Failure and Algae Growth

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detroit . The president has both an ability and a willingness to use the power of his office to think outside the box. Nobody makes a better deal than President Trump. We're going to do better and better and better. Nobody can believe what they're watching. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the forty seventh president, with a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest from NPR . I'm Michelle Martin. President Trump says the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial will be drained again . That's after its waters turned green with algae and p ieces of its new coating peeled off in chunks. Trump accused vandals of damaging the pool, but experts point to the recent renovations as the more likely source of the problems. MPR's Richel Treesman has been spending lots of time at the reflect ing pool seeing all this play out and she's with us now to tell us what she's been seeing. Rachel, good morning. Good morning. It seems like something new is happening with that reflecting pool every day. Where do things stand right now? Right. Trump said on social media over the weekend that multiple people have been arrested for vandalizing the pool. Now, remember, the administration just spent more than fourteen million dollars to have it painted a darker blue. And it was just refilled earlier this month and then quickly turned green because of algae. On top of that, in the last few days, people noticed chunks of that blue coating drifting to the surface. So Trump says he met with contractors on Saturday and they will probably have to, quote, drain much of the water for repairs. Let me go back to these allegations about vandalism. There are arrests made. What do we know about that? Truly not much. A Trump administration official with knowledge of the situation said that as of Saturday night, five people were arrested for vandalism. That official was not authorized to share details publicly. We also asked the U P.ark S. Police and Department of the Interior for specifics, but haven't heard back. US Attorney for DC Janine Piro told Fox News on Sunday that vandals will face consequences. There are several citations that have been handed out to individuals, and these are cases that will be prosecuted to the full extent. One of those arrested is David Hearn. He's a Maryland resident and former US Olympian. He was charged on Friday with destroying government property, but hearn says he didn't do anything wrong. He says he got curious and just reached into the pool to touch one of the blue pieces that was already floating there. Okay, so let's talk about this new coating, this expensive new coating. Why is it already staying to peel? That's what I asked Steve Goodle, known online as swimming pool Steve, and he says there could be a bunch of contributing factors. You have to consider environmental conditions and humidity and dust and cont amination from other products that you're using. Trump said on Truth Social that vandals had sliced a two hundred and fifty foot gash in the pool's facade and poured corrosive chemicals in the water. But Goodill says that claim raises more questions than answers because of the strength of the coating that was applied to the pool. Something that you would have to work pretty hard at, I think, to cause damage to it. If it's securely bonded to the substrate, that stuff is darn near impenetrable . Another potential culprit is the hydrogen peroxide that park service workers poured into the pool last week. That was part of their efforts to kill the algae. Goodl says it's possible that those chemicals disrupted the bond layer between the surface and the coating, but it's hard to say without more data. So if President Trump is saying the pool may have to be drained again, does that mean the algae could return? Yeah, according to the experts I talk to, algae has caused problems in the reflecting pool over the years and very likely could again. The pool is in general, a great environment for algae growth. It's shallow, it's stagnant, and it's indirect sunlight. And now that it's been painted and even darker color, it will absorb more sunlight. Goodle is hoping to see precautions, more precautions taken this time around, so for example, flushing the pipes before turning the water back on. And of course, there's plenty of incentive for this administration to want the pool looking clean and blue as soon as possible, especially with july fourth less than two weeks away. That is NPR's Rachel Treason, Rachel, thank you. Thank you Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR politics podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news. With new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks as always to our NPR plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsored messages. You can learn more at plus dot nprot. org. I'm Scott Detro. Thanks for listening to Trump'ss term from NPR.