This is the same group of decision makers that thought pouring copious amounts of hydrogen peroxide and bleach into said pool was a great idea...

We're dealing with a whole different kind of inept... these fuckers have access to nuclear weapons...

The prep is where I assume they messed up. I've never been contracted to paint the reflecting pool, but I've painted concrete and there is a lot of surface prep one has to do with dry concrete, to say nothing of painting a surface that has been sumberged for decades.

I wonder if the attempts at algae treatment didn’t cause an issue. Heard reports of hydrogen peroxide being used and that’s a heck of a nasty chemical on materials

I don’t even care about the way it was painted. The fact that it was painted at all is dumb. Especially some bright uplifting color. The reflecting pool is supposed to be a mirror, not a party pool. And if the water was dirty, well, there are chemicals and filtration systems designed to handle that.