US President Donald Trump on Sunday alleged that "vandals" were responsible for the deterioration of Washington's landmark Reflecting Pool, which has seen material peeling from the floor just days after the completion of a multi-million-dollar renovation project ordered by Trump.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that "terrible vandals" had "poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool," suggesting that this had caused the material to become loose.
The issue first became known on Friday and involves paint applied to the bottom of the pool to give the water a blue appearance, according to media reports. The exact cause of the problem was not immediately clear.
The Reflecting Pool is one of Washington's most iconic landmarks. The roughly 600-metre-long pool stretches between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, serving as the backdrop for civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.
Trump recently had the landmark renovated at a cost of about $14.2 million. As part of the project, the pool floor was coated in a dark blue finish that Trump has described as "American flag blue."
The makeover had already run into difficulties when huge algae blooms turned the water green. Park employees added hydrogen peroxide to the water this week in an attempt to combat the algae.
The Reflecting Pool is shallow, sits in direct sunlight and can heat up quite a bit in the summer. Following a major refurbishment during the Obama presidency, algae returned within weeks. A new water treatment system installed as part of the latest renovation is intended to keep the pool free of algae in the future.
Trump, who said that "additional people have been arrested" in relation to what he described as "the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool" said that the plan was likely "to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs, but will have them done as quickly as possible."
According to the Washington Post, one of those arrested is a former Olympic canoeist who was detained after touching a partially loose piece of paint in the pool.
