Trump’s Reflecting Pool liner failed in a whopping 85 places, inspection finds

‘Failure analysis’ finds the president’s ‘American flag blue’ sealant was compromised by poor construction and a rushed job

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A recently applied blue coating on the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was damaged in at least 85 places after workers rushed to refill the pool before the Donald Trump-requested liner had set.

The report instead blames a rushed job to meet Trump’s demands that the work be completed for the nation’s 250th anniversary on July 4.

The 75-page “failure analysis” by Atlantic Coating Inspection reveals that Trump’s “American flag blue” coating buckled along eight of the 10 expansion joints on the pool’s basin.

The Trump administration has funneled nearly $20 million in taxpayer funding into the project despite the president’s initial estimate that the renovation could be done quickly for just $1.5 million.

Initial costs quickly surged to nearly $7 million this summer after an initial no-bid contract was handed to a Virginia-based firm that did not appear to have previously held a contract with the federal government.

That company, Atlantic Industrial Coatings LLC, was awarded another $6.2 million in May, according to federal spending records.

The shallow pool, which the president repeatedly promotes as “bigger than skyscrapers,” was initially refurbished this summer with a shade of dark blue and outfitted with “advanced nanobubbler technology” to tackle algae blooms that have long plagued the landmark.

But shortly after workers refilled the pool, the algae returned, and the recently applied sealant in the Trump-requested blue hue started to peel and float to the surface.

In July, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Trump administration would not seek any new contracts after costs for the project exploded to more than $17 million.

Another firm, Ohio-based Green Water Solutions, also known as Greenwater Services, was also awarded $1.8 million to install a water-purification system.