The $14.7 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ordered by Donald Trump earlier this year failed at eighty-five points, the Washington Post reports—nearly four times the number initially reported. An analysis conducted by Atlantic Coating Inspection, commissioned by Atlantic Industrial Coatings (AIC), the Virginia-based firm awarded a no-bid contract to repair the pool, found blisters, peeling, and cracks across the 300,000-square-foot basin, which it attributed to “human oversight.”
Among the errors cited in the August 6 report is a failure to allow proper curing (drying) time for the caulk applied to the expansion joints that separate the basin’s concrete slabs. The “American Flag Blue” coating that was prematurely applied over the caulked joints was also not given enough time to dry, as workers hustled to fill the pool to meet the July 4 deadline demanded by the president, with images showing crews continuing to spray on the coating even after water had flowed into the basin. As well, it was determined that the top layer of coating was not flexible enough to allow for the expansion of the joints.
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The Trump administration had previously blamed vandals for injuring the pool’s liner. Federal prosecutors in July charged four people in connection with the damage, including a former Olympic canoeist, who was slapped with a felony charge. The charges were summarily dropped, with US Attorney Jeanne Pirro saying they would never have been brought had the Interior Department notified prosecutors of the contractors’ fault.
AIC is currently fixing the basin. The cost of the repairs, covered under the firm’s warranty, is not yet known, nor is it known whether the warranty will cover the cost of fixing the eighty-eight injuries to the liner caused by the Army Corps of Engineers in their efforts to determine its strength after the pool was drained. Trump on October 6 told reporters that the new restoration would render the pool “as vandal-proof as you can get.”