The Department of the Interior declared victory Thursday in its war against algae at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and celebrated by comparing the cleanup to the destruction of the Iranian navy.
The Reflecting Pool turned a vivid shade of green earlier this week, just days after President Donald Trump’s administration completed work aimed at restoring the monument the president had previously called “absolutely filthy.” Photos from earlier this week showed National Park Service employees combating the algae by dumping gallons of hydrogen peroxide into the bright green pool.
“The advanced nanobubbler technology very effectively killed the algae that has plagued every Lincoln Reflecting Pool reopening — most infamously Obama’s reopening — since 1922,” the department posted on social media.
The reflecting pool has battled algae blooms for decades, thanks to Washington’s swampy summers, shallow water, and lack of shade around the memorial. But after spending the week looking more swamp than monument, the pool is returned to its intended blue hue, according to the Interior Department. The success was compared to the destruction of the Iranian navy.
“The Reflecting Pool water is crystal clear, and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the Reflecting Pool — just like the destroyed Iranian Navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” the post said.
TRUMP OFFICIALS BRUSH OFF ALGAE REAPPEARING IN REFLECTING POOL AFTER WEEKSLONG RENOVATION
Interior officials said the outbreak was caused by “residual” algae left in supply lines that sat dormant during eight weeks of construction.
“What you are seeing is residual algae from the supply lines which have been sitting dormant for eight weeks while construction has been taking place,” an Interior Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner earlier this week. “It’s part of the normal startup process.”