Workers racing to turn reflecting pool blue for Trump may be at risk, union warns

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Sun 17 May 2026 06.00 EDT
Last modified on Sun 17 May 2026 21.30 EDT


Workers renovating one of Washington DC’s most historically symbolic sites in a project ordered by Donald Trump may be risking their safety as they race to finish on time for the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations, a union monitoring the site has warned. Trade union scrutiny has focused on the reflecting pool on the US capital’s National Mall – scene of Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I have a dream speech” – after it was drained of water and fenced off from the public to allow contractors the chance to upgrade it by 4 July.

The pool, a Washington landmark since it was dug in 1922, is currently the site of frenetic repair activity, its usual watery surface occupied instead by vehicle and work equipment. Tourists visiting the area have found their view obscured by black tarpaulin. Leaks and algae blooms have for decades dogged the 2,000ft pool, which sits between the Lincoln and George Washington memorial monuments, turning its water green and confounding previous expensive government-commissioned repair schemes, including one commissioned by Barack Obama’s administration.

Last month, the Trump administration – vowing to solve the problem once and for all – awarded a no-bid contract to waterproof and repaint the pool to a Virginia-based company, Atlantic Industrial Coatings. The president told journalists the company had successfully carried out work on a swimming pool at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia. In a patriotic flourish, he ordered the firm to repaint the pool’s floor “American flag blue”.

Other companies that do similar work have expressed indignation over being denied the chance to compete for the contract, according to Herbert Zaldivar, the business development director of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, who has visited the site as an observer. Now the award is threatening to boomerang amid disclosures that Trump drastically understated the contract’s cost, and reports that officials at the Department of the Interior – which has responsibility for the site – are dissatisfied with the company’s work.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/17/trump-washington-dc-reflecting-pool

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Since they are apparently fucking this up less than 2 months before July 4th, they may have to do a supplemental contact with incentives, to get it finished on time.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. The companies that Trmp hires need more exposure. A good chunk of the population would choose to boycott ...

... them for life if they had the chance.

I'm hoping future administrations will put the names of the companies who ravaged the East Wing, the Kennedy Center and the Reflecting Pool on a permanent blacklist, and prosecute them to the extent applicable for unlawful destruction of gov't properties. They know Trmp is not following the rules, and are happy to be complicit. It needs to cost them, big-league.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. ...

It needs to cost them, big-league bigly.

Fixed.

[Norrrm]

3. The newly renamed 'Trump Reflecting Pool'.

[lonely bird]

4. Hmmm

They better be using an aliphatic polyurea. The mix ratio on the heated plural component spray rig better be correct. Since this is pigmented if agitation of the polyol side (“B”) is required by the manufacturer then that needs to be done. Coating concrete is a pain in the ass. Since this structure has been soaking in water for decades then I would recommend using a moisture tolerant primer instead of trying to coat directly over concrete. Also, concrete is porous and prone to outgassing when coated. Coating when the temperature is dropping but still over the dew point is a good idea.

Many polyureas have set times as fast as a few seconds. It is important to be certain mix ratios are correct because variance can impact the performance of the film. Aliphatic polyureas are generally much more UV stable which means that they resist color change under exposure to UV light such as sunlight. Aromatic systems will show color change under exposure to UV. The color change is usually yellowing. Also UV can damage the surface of the film.

[Blues Heron]

5. They aren't "repainting it" they are painting the granite bottom blue. It's never been painted.

[RetiredParatrooper]

6. Clerks

[FSogol]

7. Anyone want to bet that it will be peeling in time for the 4th of July?

[Wicked Blue]

8. 'Painting the Roses Red' will be the Red King's next move.

Then, "Off with their heads."