Trump said pool work would cost $2M. Price was already quadruple that
WASHINGTON - When President Donald Trump first announced the project to transform the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on April 23 during an event at the Oval Office, he described the pool as a "filthy, dirty" place and that it was "leaking like a sieve."
Trump said he'd asked a contractor - "I have a guy who is unbelievable doing swimming pools up the road" - to choose the color "American flag blue" for the bottom of the pool. He estimated the project to cost $1.5 million and said the work would last "30, 40, 50 years."
By the following day, April 24, he adjusted the price to $2 million and said it would be done in "one week" in a Truth Social post.
But an analysis of federal contract data by USA TODAY found that 20 days before Trump first announced the project and its estimated $1.5 million cost, a company named Atlantic Industrial Coatings had already been contracted for nearly $6.9 million to take on the project on April 3. In addition, Green Water Solutions, an Ohio-based company, had been awarded a no-bid contract for over $1.7 million.
Asked to explain why the president's quoted price was so much less than the $8.5 million-plus contract that had already been awarded, the White House and the Interior Department provided statements that sidestepped the question.
"President Trump generously spearheaded the restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool - which has been plagued with algae and leaked 16 million gallons of water per year - to permanently fix the botched Obama 'repairs,'" White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told USA TODAY. "Today, the Reflecting Pool is crystal clear and is reflecting perfectly."
In subsequent weeks, Atlantic Industrial would be paid more: on May 8, it received $6,218,381; the company was given $1,086,576 on June 3.
Trump announced the project was complete on June 6, and the pool was refilled with water during the week of June 8.
Algae returns to Reflecting Pool
Within a few days, algae blooms had turned the water green. Algae has been a recurring problem at the pool for decades. In addition, pieces of the new blue paint had begun peeling up from the bottom.
On June 15, Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded an additional $461,044, records show, bringing the total project cost to over $16 million.
The National Park Service began pouring hydrogen peroxide into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to kill aggressive, recurring algae blooms in the 6.75-million-gallon capacity pool.
National Park Service echoes Trump's claim of a cut
Over the last week, Trump has blamed vandalism for the algae and the peeling paint despite the pool's history of algae problems.
Somebody had put fertilizer in the water to create algae, Trump said on June 22. He also said vandals had "very violently" cut a "350-foot slit from one end to the other" in the pool, causing the paint to peel.
In response to a May lawsuit filed by the Cultural Landscape Foundation against the Department of the Interior to stop the project, Frank Lands, deputy director of operations at the National Park Service, declared in a court document that a cut had been made with a "sharp knife."
"On June 9, 2026, after the rehabilitation project was substantially complete, the U.S. Park Police responded to an NPS report of damage to the Reflecting Pool, including a cut in the caulk over the Reflecting Pool's foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material," he said in a June 24 filing.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump said pool work would cost $2M. Price was already quadruple that
Reporting by Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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This story was originally published June 25, 2026 at 7:25 PM.