Several months before blue strips started floating to the surface of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a company involved in its last renovation more than 15 years ago was approached with an opportunity to do this remodel as well. But the company said no.
Specifically, it balked at two requirements – the Trump administration wanted it done by July 4, and the pool bottom had to be blue, according to two employees with the New Jersey-based Sika Corporation, which provided the concrete construction and sealing products for a 2010 renovation project to the Reflecting Pool.
According to the two employees, who spoke to CNN on the condition they not be identified, both demands made the job “unfeasible.”
The impact of the blue (Or any dark ) paint was that it absorbs more radiation from sunlight, increasing the temperature of the water in the pool. It’s this temperature increase which gives rise to the algal bloom. Theoretically painting it black would have been even worse.