Pool expert explains Grandpa Pudding Brains’ Lincoln Memorial Algae Farm

Grandpa Pudding Brains’ Lincoln Memorial Algae Farm may be ugly, expensive, and very funny, but Swimming Pool Steve says it is not especially mysterious.

After two CNN appearances about the green water situation, Swimming Pool Steve posted a longer explanation of what he thinks happens next. His diagnosis: new pond syndrome. When a clear-water natural lake system, like the Reflecting Pool, is restarted, the aquatic environment is a blank slate. Fast-developing algae can bloom before slower microbial systems, beneficial bacteria, biofilms, and competing algae strains have time to establish themselves.

That does not make the blue-paint fiasco less ridiculous. The Reflecting Pool was just refilled after a multimillion-dollar renovation, and crews are already treating the bloom with hydrogen peroxide and ozone “nanobubbles.” WTOP reports that the algae started growing after the refill, and AP reports that the pool’s “American flag blue” bottom turned chartreuse just days after the more-than-$14 million makeover.

It also remains to be seen if an equilibrium can be found with nano-bubblers and dudes pouring H2O2 into the pool.

Basically, Trump screwed up a national monument and a balanced ecology.