Reflecting Pool Appears Green After Trump Renovation: Photos

BreakingBusinessBreaking NewsReflecting Pool Appears Green After Trump Renovation: PhotosByZachary Folk,Forbes Staff. I cover breaking news.Follow AuthorJun 15, 2026, 08:01pm EDTToplineThe Trump administration completed its $14.2 million renovations to the National Mall’s Reflecting Pool last week, intending to color the water feature “American Flag Blue,” but days later the pool’s notorious algae returned to color the reservoir bright green.The Department of the Interior said the algae bloom turning the pool green was being “vacuumed up as we speak.”AFP via Getty ImagesKey FactsPhotos and videos appeared to show National Park Service workers in waders cleaning up the algae with hand tools on Sunday, although the pool still appeared green in photos the next day.“The National Park Service is actually maintaining the beautifully completed Reflecting Pool,” Katie Martin, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, told Forbes in a statement, blaming past presidential administrations for failing to adequately clean up the algae bloom.Martin said the Trump administration installed “nanobubblers” that “successfully destroyed the algae bloom that has plagued every pool reopening since 1922.”Martin said the algae was “dead and being vacuumed up as we speak,” and thanked President Donald Trump for “cleaning up the reflecting pool for good.”The Department of the Interior previously told CNN last week the algae still visible was “residual” from supply lines that were dormant during the renovation process, and its return was “part of the normal startup process.”National Park Service employees work to clean up algae in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 14.Getty Images Visitors walk by the Reflecting Pool on Sunday.Getty ImagesClumps of green algae floats appear in the Reflecting Pool on Sunday.Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.National Park Service workers clean the algae in the Reflecting Pool on Sunday.AFP via Getty ImagesAlgae can be s...