Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool repairs to be handled by company that won no-bid contract, Burgum says

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Sunday said the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool repairs will be completed by the same company that previously were hired to revive the landmark.

“We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” Burgum said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Green Water Solutions, based in Ohio, initially received a $1.7 million contract for work on the pool. It helped install nanobubbler ozone technology to help kill algae in the water and added an industrial liner to the Pool bottom to prevent leaks.

The Trump administration has accused vandals of destroying the liner with a sharp object which led to the need for urgent repairs.

“Thankfully, the vandalism was small. It was, it was bad. I mean, it could cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair, so then it could fall into a felony, felony thing, just like damaging any other government property could,” Burgum told Dana Bash.

Another company, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, had a $14.7 million contract to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor, per the AP.

President Trump and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro have pledged to crack down on individuals caught vandalizing the renovated site.

More than five people have been arrested in connection to the crime as officials work to fix damages.

“The job that was done to fix the reflecting pool was done extremely well, and hopefully we can move on from this and just talk about, you know, how we continue to do things like take care of this deferred maintenance problem,” Burgum said Sunday.

“We have deferred maintenance problems across our parks, President Trump is ready to sign the Great American Outdoors Act, which would bring the dollars to help fix all of our parks, not just ones like the National Mall which is free, but help bring that across the country,” he added.

The legislation brought in $1.9 billion annually for fiscal years 2021 to 2025 to fix aging buildings, roads, trails, and water systems across federal agencies, heavily benefiting the National Park Service.

President Trump renewed the funding on Friday in honor of America 250.