Just days after the completion of a more than 16 million dollar renovation, the reflecting pool on the National Mall in Washington has turned green with algae blooms, while its brand-new lining is already peeling from the floor. According to ABC News, the deterioration has come almost immediately after the costly makeover was finished, and the price of the project is now set to climb again.
President Donald Trump announced that the pool will now have to be partially drained, with work beginning immediately. He blamed vandals for the pool's deterioration, though, according to the report, he did not provide any evidence to support that claim. The National Park Service, which manages the site, has since said the reflecting pool will be drained, inspected and repaired after the Fourth of July, keeping it in place through the Independence Day period before crews move in.
The vandalism allegations have led to a growing number of arrests. An administration official initially said five individuals had been detained for vandalism connected to the pool, a figure that has since risen to at least six. Among those held was a three-time U.S. Olympian, who said he was arrested after touching a piece of the lining that was floating in the water.
The U.S. Park Police have now released new security footage that appears to back the claim that the pool was vandalised. The video shows a woman putting her hand into the water, and while the agency did not specify what it believes she did, it appealed to the public for help in identifying her, a sign that investigators are still working to establish who was responsible.
The Olympian insisted he had done nothing wrong, saying he did not remove, damage, rip, tear, break, destroy or harm any part of the reflecting pool. He told ABC News that he was held for about five hours before being released and charged with destruction of government property, at a point when the National Park Service and the U.S. Park Police had not yet responded to the network's requests for comment.
Questions are also mounting over how the project was awarded and managed. ABC News reported that the companies that renovated the pool were given no-bid contracts worth nearly 15 million dollars, despite having virtually no experience carrying out federal contracts. To deal with the algae itself, the Park Service is paying more than 1.7 million dollars to an Ohio company to install a so-called nanobubble system meant to kill the green growth, while workers battle the muck with vacuum pumps and strainers, pushing the cost to taxpayers higher still.
The figures stand in sharp contrast to early expectations. President Trump had originally said the project would cost about 1.5 million dollars and take roughly two weeks. Instead, it has cost more than 16 million dollars and taken about three months, drawing public criticism from people who described the spending as a waste and said they wanted their money back.