Why the Reflecting Pool Is Full of Algae After Trump’s Renovation

为什么特朗普翻新后的倒影池里长满了藻类？

On Wednesday morning, workers poured hydrogen peroxide into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC. 周三上午，工人们向华盛顿特区的林肯纪念堂倒影池中倾倒了过氧化氢。

The treatment is the latest attempt by the Interior Department to control an algae bloom that has turned the pool bright green, despite President Donald Trump’s costly renovation to make it “American flag blue” in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary. Hot temperatures and climate change are among the risk factors that could be driving the outbreak. 尽管唐纳德·特朗普总统斥巨资对倒影池进行了翻新，旨在赶在国家建国 250 周年之际将其打造为“美国国旗蓝”，但池水还是变成了亮绿色。此次处理是内政部为控制藻类爆发所做的最新尝试。高温和气候变化是导致此次藻类爆发的风险因素之一。

The Trump administration spent more than $14 million to update the pool ahead of celebrations across the US capital. The work was done under a no-bid contract by a company that has never worked for the federal government. (It has, however, worked on President Donald Trump’s golf courses, according to The New York Times.) 特朗普政府在华盛顿特区举行庆祝活动前，花费了超过 1400 万美元对倒影池进行了升级。这项工程是通过一份未经招标的合同交给一家从未为联邦政府工作过的公司完成的。（据《纽约时报》报道，该公司曾为唐纳德·特朗普总统的高尔夫球场提供过服务。）

Algae began forming less than a day after the updated pool was unveiled last week. An Interior Department spokesperson told CNN that the bloom was due to “residual algae from the supply lines, which have been sitting dormant for eight weeks.” 升级后的倒影池于上周揭幕，不到一天就开始滋生藻类。内政部发言人告诉 CNN，藻类爆发是由于“供水管道中残留的藻类，这些管道已经闲置了八周”。

One of the issues appears to be the water source. The Reflecting Pool usually draws water from the nearby Tidal Basin, which is often filled with algae. During periods with high amounts of algae, the water supply switches to municipal drinking water. The US Interior Department didn’t immediately respond to questions from WIRED about which water source is currently feeding the pool. 问题之一似乎出在水源上。倒影池通常从附近的潮汐湖引水，而潮汐湖中往往充满了藻类。在藻类含量较高时，供水会切换为市政饮用水。对于目前倒影池的水源究竟来自何处，美国内政部没有立即回应《连线》（WIRED）杂志的询问。

Another issue is the weather. High temperatures create “a perfect storm for [algae] to bloom,” says Hans Paerl, a former professor at the University of North Carolina’s Institute of Marine Sciences. Stagnant water, Pearl says, makes the problem even worse. “Lakes and reservoirs around the world—they all have this problem during this time of year.” Hotter-than-normal weather is expected to hit Washington, DC, to end the week, which could make controlling the bloom more challenging. 另一个问题是天气。北卡罗来纳大学海洋科学研究所前教授汉斯·佩尔（Hans Paerl）表示，高温为藻类爆发创造了“完美风暴”。佩尔说，死水让问题变得更加严重。“世界各地的湖泊和水库在每年的这个时候都会遇到这个问题。”预计本周末华盛顿特区将迎来异常高温天气，这可能会使控制藻类爆发变得更加困难。

Paerl also points out another, related driver that the Trump administration has shown it’s not in a rush to resolve: climate change. 佩尔还指出了另一个相关驱动因素，而特朗普政府似乎并不急于解决它：气候变化。

“It’s just getting hotter, and these blooms are expanding globally—they’re moving up into higher latitudes,” he says. “It’s clearly a temperature effect allowing them to optimize their growth.” “天气越来越热，这些藻类爆发正在全球范围内蔓延——它们正在向更高纬度地区移动，”他说。“这显然是温度效应在起作用，使它们能够优化生长。”

Beyond the hydrogen peroxide, the Interior Department is “deploying high-tech nanobubble ozone technology” to keep algae at bay, an agency spokesperson tells WIRED in an email. 内政部发言人在给《连线》的一封电子邮件中表示，除了使用过氧化氢外，该机构还在“部署高科技纳米气泡臭氧技术”来抑制藻类生长。

Trump has touted the work on the pool, which includes painting it blue and fixing leaks, while also saying the company the government hired would be able to do repairs “in much less time, for much less money.” 特朗普吹捧了这项倒影池工程，其中包括将其漆成蓝色和修复泄漏，同时还声称政府雇佣的公司能够“以更少的时间、更少的资金”完成维修。

The Obama administration spent $34 million on a two-year renovation of the pool in the early 2010s. The Biden administration, meanwhile, did not do any major renovations. Trump has falsely said both administrations’ spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” on the pool, while also using images generated with artificial intelligence to blame Democrats for neglecting the centerpiece of the National Mall. 奥巴马政府在 2010 年代初花费 3400 万美元对倒影池进行了为期两年的翻新。与此同时，拜登政府没有进行任何重大翻新。特朗普曾错误地声称两届政府都在倒影池上花费了“数亿美元”，并利用人工智能生成的图像指责民主党人忽视了国家广场的这一核心景观。

The Interior Department spokesperson says the Obama era renovations “resulted in massive algae clumps taking over the pool’s surface following years of construction that cost taxpayers millions upon millions only to be broken and disgusting days later.” 内政部发言人称，奥巴马时代的翻新工程“在耗费纳税人数百万美元、历经数年施工后，导致大量藻类团块占据了池面，且几天后就破损不堪，令人作呕。”

With two weeks to go before the anniversary celebrations, it remains to be seen if the pool will be blue in time for the country’s big birthday. Given the president’s intense interest in the pool, even as his administration grapples with Anthropic over Fable 5 and brokers a delicate ceasefire with Iran, it’s likely more fixes will be in the works if the hydrogen peroxide and nanobubbles don’t do the trick. 距离周年庆典还有两周时间，倒影池能否在国家大庆之际呈现出蓝色还有待观察。鉴于总统对倒影池的高度关注——即便在他的政府正忙于处理与 Anthropic 关于 Fable 5 的纠纷以及与伊朗斡旋脆弱停火协议的情况下——如果过氧化氢和纳米气泡技术无法奏效，很可能会有更多的补救措施出台。