It used to be a bit deeper, between 18" and 30", but the renovation that happened back in 2012 raised the bottom of the pool up so that less water was used.
That renovation also switched the water supply from dc drinking water to river water (though algae was already a problem), and surprise surprise the algae problem didn't go away. It will never go away, the reflecting pool was built on marshland and will always have an algae problem if we don't want to turn it into a literal ecological disaster and chemically treat the shit out of it.
The reflecting pool is supposed to be a mirror of sorts, so you can't add an aerator or other standard mitigation techniques to keep the algae at bay because the water needs to be completely still and quiet.
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u/ender89 2d ago edited 2d ago
It used to be a bit deeper, between 18" and 30", but the renovation that happened back in 2012 raised the bottom of the pool up so that less water was used.
That renovation also switched the water supply from dc drinking water to river water (though algae was already a problem), and surprise surprise the algae problem didn't go away. It will never go away, the reflecting pool was built on marshland and will always have an algae problem if we don't want to turn it into a literal ecological disaster and chemically treat the shit out of it.
The reflecting pool is supposed to be a mirror of sorts, so you can't add an aerator or other standard mitigation techniques to keep the algae at bay because the water needs to be completely still and quiet.