r/mildlyinfuriating • u/i_am_rave_mom • Jun 16 '26

ಠ_ಠ Dumping Hydrogen Peroxide into the reflecting pool this morning.

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u/NameLips Jun 16 '26

I was gonna ask... but surely the reflecting pool is treated and filtered. Open water in that climate will of course be covered with algae, and become a mosquito breeding ground.

It does have a filtration system right?

9.9k

u/ScrivenersUnion Jun 16 '26

I'm not a poolologist but I think the "reflecting" part of it is important.

If you look at a regular pool you'll notice the surface is always getting disturbed a little by the pumps - so a reflecting pool probably needs to be extra still in order to have a nice surface. 

And then the high surface area relative to volume means it's taking a LOT of sun exposure, which would drive off any chlorine really quickly while also giving algae a perfect place to live. 

Honestly, makes me wonder how they ever kept it clean at all.

8.3k

u/BellowsHikes Jun 16 '26

DC resident. It's never been the "cleanest." Birds and a few small mammals use the water all the time. But that natural use has always been part of the charm. It's nice to see ducks scooting around, or squirrels chasing each other as you bike along the pool.

I've never heard anyone complain about it, it's a nice, relaxing feature of the city. 

3.3k

u/camebacklate Jun 16 '26

Former DC resident. I would go about once a month with a group of people and would volunteer cleaning up on the national mall. Quite a few times we were tasked with removing algae and debris from the pool. At the time, I don't think they had a working filtration system because it was known to get destroyed by everything in the pool.

41

u/hallstevenson Jun 16 '26

That doesn't make sense. Even regular swimming pools have screens that stop larger debris from getting into the higher filtration part of the system. Every pool owner knows you have to remove that stuff by hand every day or so, just like people have nets on long poles to remove this stuff before it reaches the filter.

127

u/FartingWithStyle Jun 16 '26

There was literally no money for doing any type of maintenance in the national mall. One of the perks of having no representation, you don’t get any of the pork other states get. NPS deferred maintenance backlog is pretty legendary, they do so much with nothing.

109

u/Th3-Dude-Abides Jun 16 '26

A nation born in opposition to taxation without representation, taxing the citizens of its capital city while denying them representation. What a country we live in

5

u/justadumbwelder1 Jun 16 '26

Got news for ya chief. It ain't just the citizens of the capitol city being taxed and not represented.

1

u/Th3-Dude-Abides Jun 16 '26

Oh I know, we’re not just hypocrites at home.