{"id":742,"date":"2026-06-19T20:12:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T20:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=742"},"modified":"2026-06-19T20:12:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T20:12:03","slug":"tests-of-the-reflecting-pool-turn-up-a-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=742","title":{"rendered":"Tests of the Reflecting Pool Turn Up a Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Donald Trump has a new nemesis,<\/span> with a name worthy of a supervillain: Scenedesmus<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Read more How to Think About AI Before It\u2019s Too Late<\/a><\/p>\n

The Reflecting Pool on the National Mall has become the country\u2019s most high-profile science experiment, with workers battling against nature. After a week of combat, they have essentially killed off one type of algae infesting the pool, only to create the conditions for a new type to take over. And Scenedesmus<\/em>, a genus of green algae nicknamed \u201cSkinny Dead Mouse\u201d by scientists, is now flourishing, according to testing that was run at the request of The Atlantic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The pool, at the moment, looks like a strange bit of modern art. As workers treat different sections, the areas where they succeed in reducing the algae turn lighter shades of green. In some places, the water is relatively clear. In others, it\u2019s an oily sludge. A quick glance, though, is enough to confirm that this is not the American-flag blue it was supposed to be.<\/p>\n

Over the past few days, I\u2019ve seen baby ducks swim through the pool; National Park Service workers wading around as they try to clean it; small children bending over to touch it. But none of the NPS workers at the site have been able to definitively tell me whether despite all of the algae\u2014some species of which can be toxic\u2014the water remains safe.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson at the Department of Interior told me \u201cthere is ongoing water testing happening,\u201d but would not disclose the results of those tests. Requests to spokespeople at the NPS have gone unanswered. I have been in touch with scientists who have applied for permits to get into the pool and conduct their own tests, but those permits have yet to be granted.<\/p>\n

With the lack of transparency from the federal government and no clarity on what\u2019s inside that murky water, I decided to dig\u2014or dip\u2014a little deeper myself. So late on Thursday morning, I filled several water bottles from different areas of the pool. Some were fairly clear, while other samples were dark green. My samples were delivered to two different scientists by that evening.<\/p>\n

When algae first began to flourish<\/span> in the Reflecting Pool, it appeared to be a blue-green cyanobacterial bloom that had taken over. Photos showed the kind of greenish surface film that can be indicative of that algae, which in some instances may produce neurotoxins harmful to people and pets. When Hans W. Paerl, a professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, opened the bottle of one of the samples I collected, he detected the distinctive earthy scents reminiscent of other cyanobacterial blooms he\u2019d previously smelled. Under the microscope, he could see remnants of the previous bloom, but they were too degraded to identify. He attributed this, in part, to the endless jugs of hydrogen peroxide that workers had dumped into the pool to kill off the algae. \u201cThe guys dealing with peroxide treatment can pat themselves on the back,\u201d he told me. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t really solve the overall problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, it\u2019s created a new problem: The green algae, perhaps in the absence of the blue-green algae, are absolutely flourishing. \u201cIt is a pretty aggressive grower,\u201d Paerl said. \u201cWhat\u2019s happened is they\u2019ve just switched the players. And the green algae are just taking over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen it bloom quite this thick,\u201d Greg Boyer, a professor emeritus of biochemistry at the State University of New York, who analyzed our other samples, told me.<\/p>\n

Read more Europe Needs to Stop Appeasing Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

Boyer ran additional tests that determined there was little to no blue-green algae in the samples, making it highly unlikely to be toxic. That is to be expected, he said, at least for the moment. \u201cThis is peak season for green algae,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re pretty early in the season for blue-green algae.\u201d In the next few weeks, by late July, that could change.<\/p>\n

The treatments that NPS is now using to combat the bloom\u2014hydrogen peroxide and nanobubble technology\u2014are more effective at fighting blue-green algae. The green algae that are growing now, both Boyer and Paerl told me, are not likely to be discouraged by those methods, and so far they are proving to be resilient. Boyer was able to run tests to determine the current health of the algae. \u201cThey are stressed, but they are definitely not dead,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I was going to design a facility to grow algae, I would probably design a facility that had a lot of surface area and was very shallow, so you have sunlight down to the bottom. And put a lot of nutrients in it. And that\u2019s pretty much what the Reflecting Pool is. It\u2019s just a perfect facility for growing algae.\u201d The decision to paint the bottom a deep shade of blue, scientists have told me, raised the water temperature and accelerated the growth.<\/p>\n

Bottom line? \u201cThe water will probably remain green for the foreseeable future,\u201d Paerl said.<\/p>\n

For the past week, <\/span>workers at the Reflecting Pool have attempted to vacuum algae from the bottom, with hoses connected to the vacuums pumping water down nearby drains. The work, apparently, has become something of an emergency, with an email going out to NPS employees asking for volunteers to work 12-hour shifts and help pump out the algae as part of \u201ccritical pre-July 4th operational needs.\u201d The email, which was reported by MeidasTouch Network, referred to the operation as a \u201cregional and national priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yesterday evening, I saw several people in the center of the pool. They were dressed in the D.C. office uniform of khakis and a dress shirt, wearing waders as they vacuumed. As one of them ended a shift, handing his equipment back to NPS workers, he said he was \u201cjust doing my part.\u201d<\/p>\n

But another problem has also emerged: The sealant at the bottom of the pool, which was the bulk of the $16.4 million renovation project, is beginning to peel off. By yesterday evening, a whole chunk was gone. Tourists and locals were converging on the site where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke and where protesters denounced the Vietnam War, just to catch a glimpse of the wayward sealant\u2014or perhaps even a souvenir.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking a piece of paint is like taking a piece of the Berlin Wall,\u201d one cyclist passing by told me. \u201cIt\u2019s a piece of history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Britain\u2019s Next Leader Has Emerged<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eforts to clean the pool might be making the problem worse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTests of the Reflecting Pool Turn Up a Surprise - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=742\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tests of the Reflecting Pool Turn Up a Surprise - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eforts to clean the pool might be making the problem worse.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=742\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T20:12:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=742#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=742\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"headline\":\"Tests of the Reflecting Pool Turn Up a Surprise\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T20:12:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=742\"},\"wordCount\":1108,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=742#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/99ab0038fd2c98b3ca82f0abf79dbed4.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=742#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=742\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=742\",\"name\":\"Tests of the Reflecting Pool Turn Up a Surprise - 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