I found this on Facebook, but also found confirmation at Northern Virginia magazine.
The color is "American flag blue. That’s the color of the industrial-grade pool topping that is going to applied to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as part of renovations on the century-old monument."
Here's another photo of the resurfacing, submitted by a frequent reader of TYWKIWDBI
Here's how the reflecting pool used to look:
In any case, the discussion thread at the source immediately focused on how this foreshadows the "blue wave" coming in the mid-terms.
Addendum: An anonymous reader offers the following information, which may greatly change the interpretation of this event:
Umm.. this part of the approved restoration of the reflecting pool, kicked off in 2010 [Obama administration] and again in 2023. The reflecting pool was built on marshland that had been drained and supplemented with dredged material from the Potomac River. Constructed without an underlying support structure, the pool sat directly on this soft ground. And filled with over 6 million gallons of water it, it started sinking into the ground and leaking. In the 1980s' they poured concrete into the pool to try to stablize the pool. But by 1986 it was losing 500,000 gallons of water per week. Between 2010-2012 they did major repairs, but the repairs havent held.A plan was proposed in 2023 to tear out the reflecting pool and totally replace it for $301 M. However, an alternative plan to coat the bottom of the pool with a standard industrial pool coating to seal it was devised. That is estimated to come out to $2-8 M total, and save up to $1 M in annual costs to repair and refill the reflecting pool. And that's where the blue color comes from -- standard pool bottom sealant color, and picked to reflect the sky since its a reflecting pool.
https://www.history.com/articles/lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-restoration-sinkinghttps://nypost.com/2026/04/25/us-news/crews-roll-out-blue-coating-on-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool/https://www.doi.gov/sites/default/files/fy2023-nps-greenbook.pdf
Does not understand what 'reflecting' means.....
ReplyDelete(in both senses of the word)
DeleteI have fond memories of the reflecting pool. As a college prank, I and four oars from the Georgetown crew put a four with cox in at the Lincoln Memorial end and rowed back and forth. The National Park Police were not amused.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI just realized what the first image is - the workers are looking at the new paint job! And I thought it was water reflecting the Lincoln Memorial.
ReplyDeleteUmm.. this part of the approved restoration of the reflecting pool, kicked off in 2010 and again in 2023. The reflecting pool was built on marshland that had been drained and supplemented with dredged material from the Potomac River. Constructed without an underlying support structure, the pool sat directly on this soft ground. And filled with over 6 million gallons of water it, it started sinking into the ground and leaking. In the 1980s' they poured concrete into the pool to try to stablize the pool. But by 1986 it was losing 500,000 gallons of water per week. Between 2010-2012 they did major repairs, but the repairs havent held.
ReplyDeleteA plan was proposed in 2023 to tear out the reflecting pool and totally replace it for $301 M. However, an alternative plan to coat the bottom of the pool with a standard industrial pool coating to seal it was devised. That is estimated to come out to $2-8 M total, and save up to $1 M in annual costs to repair and refill the reflecting pool. And that's where the blue color comes from -- standard pool bottom sealant color, and picked to reflect the sky since its a reflecting pool.
https://www.history.com/articles/lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-restoration-sinking
https://nypost.com/2026/04/25/us-news/crews-roll-out-blue-coating-on-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool/
https://www.doi.gov/sites/default/files/fy2023-nps-greenbook.pdf