It would be hilarious if it wasn't wasting 14.2 million dollars on a no bid contract that we all knew was going to fail since it was, just like everything Trump, surface level.
Trump Team Dumps Bleach in Reflecting Pool to Hide Renovation Failure
4 months ago by inclementimmigrant to c/politics
adarza 55 points 4 months ago
well, they fired anyone that would have given a damn, or would know the chemistry and calculations. so what they gonna do? it's not like this administration knows how to choose or hire knowledgeable, experienced, competent, and qualified persons. why didn't they just hire another 'pool boy' to 'fix' it at a cost of $50 million for the 'rush' job? (less, of course, whatever gets kicked back under the potty chair).
YellowParenti 14 points 4 months ago
I could have done the job for a measly $9m. The problem is getting the rarer american anniversary chlorine, but I'll eat the cost. Like I said, I'll do it for the low low price of $20m.
BarneyPiccolo 5 points 4 months ago
You're not understanding. YOU don't get that money, Trump does. You get just enough to do the bare minimum, and he'll probably stiff you on that.
panda_abyss 6 points 4 months ago
Oh my god it’s so much worse than I thought.
They’re using 1/3 the effective concentration of hydrogen peroxide and pouring it in with regular sized bottles. You need 35% and they’re using 12%.
This Reddit (spits on ground) thread has someone who did the math
inclementimmigrant 18 points 4 months ago
What's another couple of thousands on retail products when you've already wasted 14.2 million.
Archangel1313 14 points 4 months ago
...and then charged the Federal government another $100k.
nymnympseudonym 9 points 4 months ago
.. and placed a stunningly accurate bet on Polymarket about the size of the contract
BarneyPiccolo 4 points 4 months ago
To cover $1000 worth of materials. The rest went to...the Uber ride
panda_abyss 9 points 4 months ago
I don’t think algae can evolve bleach resistance.
Bleach basically tears apart the molecules inside the cells and destroys the proteins they need to function. Antibiotics usually exploit some specific weakness in bacteria to kill them, which can be evolved around.
If you don’t use bleach enough it’ll kill the outer layers like a film and leave harder to treat algae to dominate, but the algae can’t overcome the effects of bleach. Chlorine is smaller than cellular molecules, so it’ll always permeate.
At that point they’ll need to physically scrub the whole thing or massively increase the concentration to shock it.
Source: had a pool as a kid, when we would go on vacation we’d come back to it being green. The basic chlorine wouldn’t cut it and we’d need to buy pool shock, which was just more concentrated chlorine to kill the floating stuff, then we’d have to scrub and vacuum the algae from the surfaces.
Edit: I just checked Wikipedia, they’re using 12% hydrogen peroxide. Apparently that breaks down quickly in the sun though, so it’s unlikely to do anything for the majority of the algae.
According to pool websites you need a 35% concentration, so this is going to do nothing at all at this concentration.
So basically, an actual treatment would need literal tons of peroxide applied repeatedly. The dinky bottles they’re pouring in by hand won’t do shit.
It also is known to form a film, so it won’t kill algae without scrubbing, which they’re using army rangers to do... but even though they’re scrubbing it’s still not enough concentration to kill algae and bacteria.
It’s an either make work program or complete incompetence by a pool company that’s only worked on pools with pumps and filters. Or both.
zalgotext 9 points 4 months ago
Funny thing is, the reflecting pool has pumps and filters, they're just in disrepair (along with a bunch of other infrastructure-level stuff). Instead of actually addressing the root cause of the issue, Trump decided to give it the ol landlord special and slap a coat of paint on it.
anomnom 3 points 4 months ago
It’s probably going to mess with the Ph and damage the pool pumps and etch the brand new “millions” of dollars of paint.
Too much %HOCl, and you make the water too acidic and hurt pumps and metal in the system.
panda_abyss 1 point 4 months ago
Apparently they’re using peroxide not chlorine
But peroxide breaks down in water and sun, so they’ll need a lot of it.
Apparently they added a bubbler, but who knows if that’ll work.
ramjambamalam 3 points 4 months ago
Chlorine also is degraded by UV, which is why pools usually maintain some level of CYA which acts as a stabilizer to a certain degree. CYA is naturally present in granulated chlorine (dichlor) but not in liquid chlorine (bleach), which is why the "dichlor to bleach" method starts with dichlor for a while to built a reserve of CYA, before switching to bleach. Too much CYA decreases the effectiveness of chlorine, so keeping it around 30 ppm is optimal.
Writing this got me wondering what the fine folks at TroubleFreePool think about this whole debacle... https://www.troublefreepool.com/...
BarneyPiccolo 2 points 4 months ago
Pfft, you'd probably measure it in metric, you COMMIE.
Mycatiskai 5 points 4 months ago
I'm curious if massive amount of bleach will fade the flag blue paint job of the wading pool?
LincolnsDogFido 1 point 4 months ago
Wait, I'm American and must have missed this. They painted a fucking flag in the bottom of it?
Mycatiskai 2 points 4 months ago
American flag blue. Sorry missed a word
LincolnsDogFido 1 point 4 months ago
Okay, gotcha. That I was aware of. Would not have shocked me if I missed that in all the gish gallop though
LostCarcosan 2 points 4 months ago
They didn't paint a flag, just painted the bottom and sides blue to try to make it look better... And then immediately ruined it, as they do to everything they touch
o0evillusion0o 5 points 4 months ago
It's kinda like magnets... Nobody knows how it works.
Raiderkev 2 points 4 months ago
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Godort 50 points 4 months ago
They're talking about the same thing. The term "Bleach" is ambiguous and mostly describes a result rather than a specific chemical. It could be talking about sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, or sodium percarbonate (or any number of other chemicals that make things white)
Arcanepotato 24 points 4 months ago
This article specifies the use of both 12% hydrogen peroxide and calcium hypochlorite powder. Hope they turned off the ozone generator too.
givesomefucks 17 points 4 months ago
The term “Bleach” is ambiguous and mostly describes a result rather than a specific chemical.
Sure, when used a verb...
When someone "bleached their hair" they used hydrogen peroxide, because that would achieve a bleaching effect
However the headline uses it as noun "dumps bleach in pool". And I'm pretty sure that's not correct.
The article says hydrogen peroxide, but headlines are often written by someone else and I think that's where the confusion came from.
stringere 9 points 4 months ago
Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color from (i.e. to whiten) fabric or fiber (in a process called bleaching) or to disinfect after cleaning. It often refers specifically to a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite, also called "liquid bleach".
wheezy 1 point 4 months ago
Yeah. I was gonna say. When I buy "bleach" (literally says it in the bottle) it's sodium hypochlorite diluted in water. But I'd never want to burn my scalp with it trying "bleach" my hair.
BrianTheeBiscuiteer 13 points 4 months ago
It would be hilarious, ironically, if they ended up making chlorine gas because they just poured in whatever they thought would fix it.
PalmTreeIsBestTree 3 points 4 months ago
I doubt they are measuring it well…wouldn’t surprise me
SwifferWetjet 11 points 4 months ago
You told people to mix bleach and ammonia, Peggy?!
wonderingwanderer 6 points 4 months ago
Do ammonia next!
BarneyPiccolo 2 points 4 months ago
While the DC MAGAs are all having a big fundraising event with all the Sociopathic Oligarchs, gathered around the pond.
wonderingwanderer 1 point 4 months ago
[redacted]
quick_snail 5 points 4 months ago
Maybe they'll do ammonia next and gas themselves
thesohoriots 5 points 4 months ago
Why not both
BarneyPiccolo 3 points 4 months ago
I've been injecting it ever since he recommended it, and I never got Covid.
switcheroo 24 points 4 months ago
It was a grift. Who didn't see that?
The dumb fucker pocketed most of the cash and had a couple unqualified goons pick up some shit from Home Depot.
BarneyPiccolo 14 points 4 months ago
Of course, it's the classic real estate developer kick back scheme. He gives the contract to his special Pool Guy, who totally understands that he does the job with half the budget, and kicks back the rest to Trump. Then they split the overruns, too.
This kind of deal is Trump's bread & butter, he's been doing it his entire life, with absolutely no consequences at all. That's why he is so obsessed with his building projects. They stopped his Kennedy Center renovation, but you still have the Ballroom, and the Arc de Trump, which I love to say because it is so RETARDED (sorry about that, but sometimes an extreme word is 100% appropriate).
BarneyPiccolo 1 point 4 months ago
They already are. People think it's a joke, but that is LITERALLY Trump's name for it. Of course it is, it isn't classy unless it has his name on it, and giving it a French name makes it even more classy, because it's French.
JeeBaiChow 2 points 4 months ago
Sure it wasnt four seasons?
BarneyPiccolo 2 points 4 months ago
Trump can't count that high.
postmateDumbass 2 points 4 months ago
I dont think he advanced past salt and pepper.
too_high_for_this 23 points 4 months ago
Ridiculous. The Reflecting Pool is about 10x the volume of an Olympic swimming pool. Quick math tells me they need >1000 gallons to have any sort of effect.
They put in... maybe 8 gallons?
scutiger 17 points 4 months ago
They had several cases of peroxide, definitely more than 8 gallons, but it was only like 12% so pretty weak stuff anyway. Nowhere near what they would have needed to clear it all up. Plus it would have been super temporary and would have ended up oxygenating the water and feeding the algae.
billwashere 4 points 4 months ago
12% hydrogen peroxide is far from weak. And it’s often used to shock pools and cleaning up organic matter.
BarneyPiccolo 1 point 4 months ago
Can we all go swim in his pool?
tacosanonymous 5 points 4 months ago
Not really. I guess they may have lowered the bar for that phrase, though.
wheezy 2 points 4 months ago
You'd think for 14 million they could at least have a couple of those little floating pool filters.
But, in reality, a massive body of water like that is just gonna have natural things happen to it. There isn't really a way around it unless they want to poison the local environment with chemicals.
4am 10 points 4 months ago
Besides the concrete cracks, the Reflecting Pool needed new pipes to the filtration and distribution building (the wrong ones were installed and ground settling cracked them, they’re leeching water into the soil). They also needed to waterproof the expansion joints which, although temporary sealed by the liner they installed, will eventually leak again when the liner rips due to further settlement.
Once again, Trump puts lipstick on a pig and kicks the problem down the road so he can look good until he’s gone.
phdepressed 5 points 4 months ago
100% certain they do not care.
BarneyPiccolo 2 points 4 months ago
Yeah, algae grows in a still, dark pond in the summer heat.
Basically, Trump did a seventh grade science fair experiment with a $14 million budget.
BarneyPiccolo 1 point 4 months ago
They put in... maybe 8 gallons?
A day.
WanderWisley 11 points 4 months ago
It’s only a matter of time before we get bleach mixed with ammonia. That’ll get it!
umbraroze 8 points 4 months ago
Fun reminder: Most natural swamps aren't actually toxic. Until some human-made toxic spills which complicate things.
Really puts the DC "Swamp" in perspective, huh. What are they doing over there, I wonder
SwifferWetjet 17 points 4 months ago
You already know they're gonna dump a water bucket on it and make a nether portal the second you let them do that shit dude🙄
BarneyPiccolo 6 points 4 months ago
I hear ground up MAGA bones work best.
Well, I didn't really hear that, but I think we should try it out anyway, just to make sure.
ZigZagZebra 11 points 4 months ago
Cl2 is liquid chlorine. Bleach refers to hypochlorite solution
inclementimmigrant 6 points 4 months ago
path: 0 24301968 24302049, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
andrej 9 points 4 months ago
Honest question: Why were there no algae in there before the renovation? I have tried to figure this out and can't find anything on it. If they really "just" painted everything blue, why would there be suddenly a growth of algae?
inclementimmigrant 20 points 4 months ago
Algae has been a problem for that pool, which all pools suffer from not just this shallow oversized one. Previous administrations has looked into this and their contractors/experts told them that there are fundamental issues with the pool that includes foundational issues such as cracked piping under the pool and filters that ain't filtering right.
HOWEVER, This idiot decided that he would give a no-bid 14.2 million dollar contract to a contractor that doesn't even do pools, just industrial waterproofing, and then had them just seal some cracks and put on a coat of dark blue paint. And you have to realize that dark colors absorbs more light and that heats up the pool water even more and you what loves heat? Algae. Now with the use of tidal water with the bad filters and pipes that are still leaking and pulling in nutrients/junk with a even warmer pool, well that how you get lots of algae.
Maybe this is just Trump trying to get into the algae-based bio fuel industry in a 4d chess move but maybe he's just a moron.
anon_8675309 15 points 4 months ago
There is algae from time to time. Obama had to update the filtration system (yes he did the work all by himself while wearing a tan suit) because of algae.
Trump copies everything Obama does but is purely incompetent.
starman2112 3 points 4 months ago
I seriously thought that segment was satire. The host saying "it's American Flag Blue" while pointing at an Undrained Swamp Green reflecting pool is like something out of SNL
Segment starts at 60 seconds, if the link doesn't work
Eh_I 10 points 4 months ago
What I heard(TM) was that the new color paint is darker so it causes the water to warm slightly creating more favorable conditions for an algae that was already a bit a bit of a problem, turning it into a bear of a problem.
That's what I heard.
DragonAce 5 points 4 months ago
There was algae before, but not near as bad from what I understand. IIRC they last did repairs and maintenance on the reflecting pool under Obama. Which may or may not have been part of the reason Trump wanted to redo them.
Thebeardedsinglemalt 3 points 4 months ago
That's what the orange kid-diddlers does, takes what Obama did (with varying degrees of success), tears it down, siphons millions for himself and his cronies, then gives us a shittier version of it.
Much like Iran
queueBenSis 2 points 4 months ago
my speculation is that it used to be maintained correctly with shock and filtering
JeeBaiChow 7 points 4 months ago
14.2 and counting. Bleach and pump flushes arent gonna pay for themselves yknow...
inclementimmigrant 2 points 4 months ago
True. I wonder how much he spent on having government employees go to the freaking local pool supply store and by shock at retail prices that literally did fuck all with the amount of water in the pool.
BarneyPiccolo 6 points 4 months ago
I mean, you could have tried that BEFORE you spent a zillion dollars.
bitjunkie 1 point 4 months ago
Low 8 figures is an unfathomable amount of money to most people, but insignificant on the scale of federal spending. The news media are eating this up because of the Mossad-captured kiddie-diddling elephant in the room.
Bebopalouie 4 points 4 months ago
I remember about 10-15 years ago a buddy of mine was selling this pool shock stuff that was all natural, some sort of microscopic critter that liked eating algae. They tested it in a completely green pool and it turned the water clear overnight.
Guess they are too dumb to know about stuff like that.
prenatal_confusion 4 points 4 months ago
Sounds interesting, can you point us anywhere? I an curious
Bebopalouie 1 point 4 months ago
It was over 20yrs ago. All I remember is it was a natural organism that ate the algae and it worked. I did a quick search but all of the info on it was in 10 top or 5 top algae killers lists. Did not have time to drill down.
BarneyPiccolo 3 points 4 months ago
That's what Obama used, so we can't use that.
glitch1985 2 points 4 months ago
Sounds pretty woke. Hard pass.
RizzRustbolt 1 point 4 months ago
I wonder if they even thought of cleaning the pumps...
BarneyPiccolo 1 point 4 months ago
Pumps?
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I appreciate the fact they didn’t measure how much they need, they just went to the pool store and bought a bunch of residential sized containers.
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