Planning

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was part of the McMillan Plan, which was used as a blueprint for most federal government buildings in Washington D.C.^[20] The Reflecting Pool was originally designed in the shape of a cruciform with round edges, with the smaller secondary pool, the Rainbow Pool situated between it and the Washington Monument.^[20] The two small arms of the cross for the Reflecting Pool were removed from the plan due to the presence of nearby US Navy buildings. These structures, including one that housed munitions, obstructed the area for the proposed excavation work. The round edges of the pool were also changed to be square.^[20]

Because the Reflecting Pool and the Rainbow Pool were built on reclaimed marshland, various steps were taken to prevent the pool from settling in a way that would cause it to appear unequal.^[20] These steps included supporting parts of each pool with bedrock that was deep below the ground, and building part of the pool in a way to account for eventual settlement.^[20]

Systems that could be used to drain and fill the water within each pool in a 24 hour period were also planned.^[20]

Construction

The construction of the pool was delayed until 1919 due to World War I.^[20] Construction finally began in 1922.^[7]

The hole for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to be built inside of was dug out using steam shovels that were carried using a modular railway that would be built, disassembled and rebuilt to move with the steam shovels as they excavated the area.^[20]

The drainage system for the pool used a 36 in (91 cm) concrete pipe in the middle of the pool connected to a sump pump 450 feet (140 m) away, that was later connected to the Tidal Basin. The initial plan to pump water from the Tidal Basin directly into the pool was also abandoned for D.C's (at that time) new potable water supply.^[20]

The Reflecting Pool was made level using 366 wood and concrete pilings that reached down to the bedrock below the pool, and a large amount of T-beams were put on top of the piles with the pool's granite coping built on top of the beams. The bottom of the pool was connected to the edges of the pool using concrete slabs that were hinged to the pool bottom.^[20]

The Reflecting Pool's bottom was made of compressed embers saturated with a variety of grades of road oil,^[a] that was then covered in sand and compressed into the embers.^[20] A three-ply layer of fabric saturated with asphalt with felt laid on top of it was then used to waterproof the bottom of the Reflecting Pool.^[20] It had to be repaired while being constructed after heavy rain disrupted the work, causing the fabric to wrinkle and become uneven.^[20]

The unevenness of the fabric caused the layer of mastic asphalt applied afterwards to finish the pool to be too difficult to complete. Instead, slate coated in asphalt was used as a replacement.^[20]

Post-restoration operation

Within weeks of the pool's reopening in 2012, it had to be drained and cleaned for $100,000 due to algae in the pool. The algae growth almost completely covered the surface of the pool.^[23] The National Park Service said that, using an ozone disinfectant system installed during the restoration,^[24] they would double the amount of algae-killing ozone in the pool in an effort to control future outbreaks.^[23] In 2013, construction on the National World War II Memorial damaged the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool. National Park Service workers closed the eastern 30 feet (9 meters) of the pool in August 2015 to repair the basin, work that was completed in the summer of 2016.^[25] The Reflecting Pool was completely drained in June 2017 to control a schistosome outbreak. The parasite, which causes swimmer's itch, infected the snails that inhabited the pool and ultimately killed more than 80 ducks and ducklings in a few weeks during spring 2017.^[26]

Post-renovations operation

The work was completed on June 5.^[43] Within days of the refilling of the pool, algae bloomed in the pool.^[44] National Park Service workers poured hydrogen peroxide into the pool and manually vacuumed the pool in an effort to remove the algae.^[45] The New York Times spoke to employees of Greenwater Services, who said the National Park Service had asked them to remove the nanobubbling purifier systems from the pool's rim for Trump's UFC Championship set on the White House lawn.^[46] According to the same employees; by the time they were reinstalled 36 hours later, the algae was in full bloom.^[46]

Scientific American identified the blue thick-film elastomeric coating as a brand of polyurea coating from Rhino Linings called Pipeliner 5000.^[47] According to two experts in elastomeric coating interviewed by WBAL-TV, this polyurea coating has been frequently used before in water features to create a waterproof barrier as it cures quickly and remains flexible.^[48] As it began to peel off the bottom of the pool soon after the completion of the project,^[49][50] various engineers and pool experts interviewed by the American media postulated that the peeling might have been caused by a variety of factors, such as, but not limited to: the resurfacant used, heat, UV radiation, the presidential motorcade driving over the pool after its completion, the use of hydrogen peroxide in the pool and the adhesion of the coating used to granite.^{[47][46][48][51][52]} In addition to the Pipeliner sealant, AIC used Rhino 406 epoxy primer and Rhino 11-35 polyurea.^[53][54][55]

A National Park Service engineer emailed the Trump administration on June 11 to report that the liner was peeling.^[56]

Trump claimed in late June that both the algae and the peeling of the new material in the pool were caused by vandalism; multiple media outlets reported at the time that there was no evidence for these claims.^[57][58][59] A Trump administration official later told CBS News that, in regards to the alleged vandalism, 14 police reports were filed, with five citations issued and five arrests made, including that of Olympic athlete David Hearn.^[60][61] Hearn was indicted by a grand jury on a federal charge that he had, in the words of US attorney Jeanine Pirro, "woefully destroyed property".^[62][63] He pled not guilty.^[64]

On June 23, Trump announced that the pool would be drained for repairs.^[65] Atlantic Industry Coatings also confirmed this.^[66] On June 24, during the aforementioned Cultural Landscape Foundation lawsuit, a statement on the so-called vandalism was published by Frank Lands, Deputy Director for Operations at the National Park Service.^[67] In the statement, Lands alleged that on June 9, the United States Park Police responded to a National Park Service report of vandalism to the pool, which included the reported cutting of "caulk over the foam sealant" and destruction "of delaminating surface material".^[67] The Trump administration later deployed National Guard soldiers to the pool, and established surveillance to counter possible vandalism.^[68]

A July 16 report from The Washington Post showed photos correlating the areas where the coating failed with seams between applications of various coatings. The records assembled by the newspaper indicated that in some cases the contractor violated manufacturer instructions as to the minimum or maximum times between coats as well.^[69][48]

At the end of July, the United States Department of Justice and Jeanine Pirro admitted^[13][14][15] that the damage was the result of a "hasty and botched" renovation,^[13] and that the contractor had performed a "flawed installation".^[70] Prosecutors found "extensive peeling of the lining throughout the Reflecting Pool" which was due to poor quality-control and was "not vandalism".^[71] The DOJ moved to have the case against Hearn dismissed;^[70][13][14] days later a judge granted this request, dropping the felony charge against Hearn.^[72][73]

The Justice Department said they had made "dozens and dozens" of requests for evidence^[74] but claimed that the Department of the Interior withheld information from federal prosecutors which demonstrated the problematic contracting work, and instead falsely blamed vandals.^[75] The next day, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he disagreed "100%" with Pirro's decision to drop the charges, restating his claims about vandalism but admitting that other factors were in play.^[76][77] Within days of the move to dismiss the case against Hearn, prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi, resulting in dropped misdemeanor charges and dismissed cases against three other individuals who were accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.^[78][79]

Aftermath

Pirro's decision infuriated Trump, according to multiple people who spoke to the New York Times with knowledge of White House developments.^[80] The Times reported that Pirro had privately come to view Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum as an "incompetent liar" for his failure to oversee the renovation project and promotion of the vandalism narrative. She concluded that the prosecutions would likely have been thrown out by a judge.^[80] Trump maintained that Pirro had "folded like an umbrella" and again insisted the pool had been damaged by vandals.^[80] During an Oval Office meeting in early August, Pirro directly confronted Burgum, accusing him of misleading the president. According to The New York Times, she "made the case that Mr. Burgum had promoted a self-serving cover story to conceal his own missteps." The Times surmised that, uncharacteristically for Trump's appointees, she may have felt empowered to cross him by dint of her independently established career, as opposed to one that relies on Trump's benefaction to sustain.^[80]