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 \u2014 and under the radar \u2014 without a scummy green film floating on top.<\/p>\n

As the algae-tinged drama<\/a> 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 \u2014 the Architect of the Capitol, not the National Park Service.<\/p>\n

Both are expensive and challenging to maintain, but the trapezoid-ish Capitol Reflecting Pool hasn\u2019t faced the same intractable problems that have plagued the long and skinny pool to the west.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime you have a water feature in general \u2026 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,\u201d Architect of the Capitol Thomas Austin said in an interview Wednesday. \u201cThey require pumps, require pipes \u2014 corrosion, animals, diseases, bacteria, algae. There’s a lot of things that go along with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin\u2019s 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<\/a> to \u201cremove the sludge that collects throughout the year,\u201d according to a 2017 AOC report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then masons repair cracks and other issues with the concrete basin and plumbers tackle pipe and pump problems before refilling the pool. The draining, repairing and refilling can all happen within a week, depending on the extent of work needed, according to an internal AOC bulletin.<\/p>\n

$\"The$ <\/p>\n

In contrast, draining and refilling the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool typically takes about a month.<\/p>\n

There is no evidence that the National Park Service or White House sought the AOC\u2019s expertise with reflecting pool maintenance before embarking on the recent renovations across town, which included spraying the floor with an \u201cAmerican flag blue\u201d rubberized coating.<\/p>\n

The Park Service has some experience with the Capitol pond: It managed the body until 2011, when Congress assumed control for itself in an omnibus spending bill \u2014 scuttling NPS plans for a shallower pool with an overnight draining system.<\/p>\n

Instead, the Architect of the Capitol proceeded with a $7.3 million renovation that included draining the pool, thoroughly cleaning it and making repairs<\/a> to the concrete.<\/p>\n

Today, families of ducks call the Capitol Reflecting Pool home, and AOC craftspeople even fabricated and installed ramps<\/a> to help ducklings make their way in and out of the water. (Some congressional fiscal hawks briefly balked<\/a> at the expenditure.)<\/p>\n

This week, a trio of dead ducks<\/a> found at the Lincoln Memorial pool increased scrutiny of the Trump administration\u2019s renovation, including the use of high-concentration hydrogen peroxide in the water to combat a recent algae bloom.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, eyewitnesses who posted on social media reported the water appeared closer to sparkling, though some residual algae was spotted.<\/p>\n

The White House did not address questions about whether it had consulted with the legislative branch on how to maintain a water body before embarking on the Lincoln Memorial project.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the Reflecting Pool is crystal clear and is reflecting perfectly,\u201d White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement, calling it a feat \u201conly an expert builder like Donald J. Trump could accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin also declined to weigh in on why the water at the Lincoln Memorial has been so much more troublesome than the Capitol\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not say that our full reflecting pool is without problems, because it certainly does have some issues,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s also smaller, so that’s part of it, too. And it was kind of formulated in different ways, so it’s kind of hard to compare apples to apples on this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

$\"The$ <\/p>\n

The Capitol\u2019s pool, sandwiched between two parking lots and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial was completed in 1971, making it about half the age of the Lincoln Memorial\u2019s. It has not always been without blight, however.<\/p>\n

In 2020 there was an algae bloom<\/a> during a stretch of particularly hot weather. And in 2008, when the pool was still under NPS control, at least two dozen dead ducks<\/a> were removed from the water after avian botulism took hold. These days, some cracked stone can be spotted along the perimeter.<\/p>\n

Several lawmakers who exercise oversight of the Capitol campus declined to say much to compare and contrast the two reflecting pools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank the Architect of the Capitol for keeping it clear and keeping it clean,\u201d Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in an interview this week when asked if his time on the Legislative Branch Appropriations subcommittee gave him any insight into the pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cSize matters,\u201d added Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), a member of the House Administration Committee.<\/p>\n

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on the Legislative Branch Appropriations subcommittee, said he believed the Trump administration\u2019s rushed approach to the Lincoln Memorial rehab was the most obvious distinction between the health of the two pools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, anybody with an eighth-grade science class could have predicted that this was not going to go well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"