Overview
- National Park Service crews have been treating the pool with hydrogen peroxide, vacuuming and a contracted nanobubble/ozone system as on-site remediation continues and much algae has been killed or removed.
- Photos and on-site reporting on Thursday showed strips of the newly applied 'American Flag Blue' sealant ripping and floating in the water just days after the basin was refilled.
- President Donald Trump has blamed vandalism for the damage and accused an ABC reporter of interfering, and U.S. Park Police arrested cyclist and former Olympian David Hearn on misdemeanor damage charges.
- The work was awarded under expedited, largely no-bid federal contracts to Atlantic Industrial Coatings and a water-treatment firm, with federal spending reported at roughly $14–16 million and preservation groups filing suit over skipped review.
- Experts and past project documents note long-standing problems with buried 12‑inch circulation pipes that were not fully replaced in the rapid renovation, raising the risk of repeated algae and filtration failures and calling into question whether the fixes are durable.