Exclusive: Firm that worked on past Reflecting Pool renovation passed on Trump project after deeming it 'unfeasible'
Exclusive: Firm that worked on past Reflecting Pool renovation passed on Trump project after deeming it ‘unfeasible’
by Abigail Roedersheimer, Isabelle Khurshudyan, Sunlen Serfaty
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/reflecting-pool-firm-renovation-unfeasible
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Specifically, it balked at two requirements – the Trump administration wanted it done by July 4, and the pool bottom had to be blue, according to two employees with the New Jersey-based Sika Corporation, which provided the concrete construction and sealing products for a 2010 renovation project to the Reflecting Pool.
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Given Sika’s prior experience working on the Reflecting Pool, the company’s decision to decline the contract, which has not been previously reported, could further enflame mounting criticism that the project was rushed and potentially improperly completed.
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Online commentators have also speculated that the bottom of the pool may have been affected by the presence of heavy equipment and trucks — and a presidential motorcade that drove through at one point — shortly after the coating was applied.
Tim Auerhahn, a pool infrastructure expert and the chairman of the Aquatic Council, a consulting firm, said over email there isn’t enough information to definitively conclude that the vehicle traffic caused damage, but “it is one of several factors that should be considered as part of a comprehensive failure analysis.”
A spokesman for Standard Water Corp told CNN it would never be recommended to drive cars out onto a pool surface, especially while renovations are being done. That’s like "putting flooring on your kitchen floor and then you’re take a really heavy tractor on top of it – it’s going to mess it up a little bit.”