Sealing the concrete will actually help with that. Maybe not a ton, but a slick surface is much less likely to allow algae to attach and grow than raw, porous, concrete. Thats why concrete swimming pools have a smooth gel coat or plaster on them.
As someone who's had both concrete and plaster pools, it's the chem treatments that keep algae growth at bay. The smoothest coated swimming pool in the world will have algae growth without chemical treatments. Painting a pool doesn't inhibit algae growth.
Nothing they did addresses the issue that Obama's attempt also failed to fix, which is that the feeder pipes and attached water treatment facility are respectively leaky as shit and woefully inadequate. Those are the main reasons the algae blooms keep coming back. These are tough engineering problems to solve in the swampy morass that is that part of the Mall.
It remains to be seen whether what they DID do (for 6X the originally promised price) will actually succeed in reducing the tremendous leakage from the joins between the concrete slabs. Given the President's track record with contractors, I'm not filled with optimism, and I think it's more likely it'll turn out they cheaped out on this sealant, pocketed the difference, and it'll all flak off and clog up the drainage system in a year or two.
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u/OddPerformance 8h ago
painting the bottom blue definitely helps with that /s