The reflecting pool, nestled between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, has been around for over a century. But it has never been the subject of this much intrigue, nor this many political potshots.
“It was filthy, dirty, and it leaked like a sieve for many years,” said President Donald Trump in April, when he announced a rapid renovation of the reflecting pool. Within eight or nine weeks, the entire floor was painted “American flag blue,” and the pool was refilled with water, as deep as a kiddie pool and nearly as long as seven football fields, finally clear enough again to reflect the Washington Monument. Mission accomplished.
Or maybe not. A few days later, people began to notice that the pool was turning green, and that sheets of the material lining the bottom were peeling. A dead duckling floated lifelessly to the edge of the pool. And questions began to swirl, including: How did this happen? Is this a metaphor for Trump’s presidency? Is he the victim of some kind of sabotage operation? And can the pool’s problems be fixed?
To get some answers, I spoke on Tuesday with Rudy Stankowitz, a swimming pool and aquatic design consultant who also hosts a podcast called Talking Pools. While Stankowitz has no connection to the reflecting pool renovation, he is very familiar with the materials and processes that were used during the job. His answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Tanner Nau: As somebody whose career is spent building and maintaining pools, what stood out when you saw pictures of the renovations?
