New science on algae die-offs is too late for the Reflecting Pool
www.sciencenews.org

... The newly painted Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. was supposed to be "American Flag blue." Instead, on June 16, the water turned an un-American shade of sickly green as an algal bloom burst through the water. While experts keep trying to eradicate the unsightly bloom, a research team has revealed new insights into how mass algal demise might happen naturally.

A sudden algal die-off could be caused by an interaction between iron and hydrogen peroxide, researchers report June 25 in Science. The chemical reaction produces reactive molecules that burst cell membranes apart. Death could spread from a single cell to collapse an algal bloom if conditions are right. While the results could explain why at least some algal blooms die off, the findings can't turn the Reflecting Pool blue. The situation there may be too far gone ...

The Lincoln Memorial should be green with envy: This reflecting pool stayed clear
www.politico.com

... Still blue waters, abundant waterfowl, promenading tourists and barely a whiff of mildew -- that is the vision President Donald Trump has struggled to turn into reality this month at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

But that has long been the reality just a mile-and-a-half down the National Mall, where another reflecting pool floats just under Capitol Hill -- and under the radar -- without a scummy green film floating on top.

As the algae-tinged drama has played out at the Lincoln Memorial, little attention has been paid to its sister pond which is slightly smaller, more obscure and managed by a different entity -- the Architect of the Capitol, not the National Park Service.

Both are expensive and challenging to maintain, but the trapezoid-ish Capitol Reflecting Pool hasn't faced the same intractable problems that have plagued the long and skinny pool to the west.

"Anytime you have a water feature in general ... they are beautiful, they're amazing, but they're problematic because they degrade faster over time than pretty much anything else you're going to have," Architect of the Capitol Thomas Austin said in an interview Wednesday. "They require pumps, require pipes " corrosion, animals, diseases, bacteria, algae. There's a lot of things that go along with that."

Austin's agency drains the Capitol pool each fall and sometimes in the spring to evaluate the basin and make repairs. Employees go in with heavy equipment to "remove the sludge that collects throughout the year," according to a 2017 AOC report. ...