Trump’s Reflecting Pool woes

The paint on Washington DC’s newly renovated
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has begun
peeling away from the bottom mere days
after President Trump announced the
costly job’s completion

Trump displays rendering
of how pool would look
after renovations

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial
Reflecting Pool
Holds 30 million
litres of water

JFK Hockey Fields

World War II
Memorial

N

Granite
edge

Algae
has long
plagued
pool

Depth:
About 45cm
at edges and
75cm in centre

2010-2012
renovation:
Concrete bottom
replaces failing 1923 asphalt and tiles

PEELING PAINT

Atlantic Industrial Coatings
awarded no-bid contract to reseal
and paint bottom of pool American
flag blue colour

After algae returns, water
treated with hydrogen peroxide,
which is now suspected to have
led coating to delaminate and
float to surface

HOW PAINTING COSTS BALLOONED

Initial cost: $1.5m
Apr: Further $5.5m
May: $6.2m
Jun: $1m
Jun: $461,000
Total: $14.7m

Sources: Independent, CNN, Washington Post
Pictures: Getty, Apple Maps
© GRAPHIC NEWS