Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Steve Goodall is not He was used to attention like this. That’s not to say he’s not used to being in front of the camera: His YouTube channel, Swimming Pool Steve, has amassed nearly 91,000 subscribers covering topics like How to bond concrete and Cleaning a used hot tub.
But the saga of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which The algae blooms turned green After a renovation that President Donald Trump’s administration claimed would make the pool “American Flag Blue” in time for the U.S. flag 250th birthday celebrationsleaving people searching for answers about what the hell is going on.
The mystery deepened after parts of the newly installed liner appeared to break off and Trump said the pool would be drained while, without evidence, blaming vandals for the problems. Add to that the US Park Police arresting people for touching the water as if it were a kind of biological hazard, and this is what made Goodall, Award-winning billiards expertone of the most requested resources for anyone trying to find out what is happening to the famous monument.
Swimming pools are in Goodall’s blood: He learned the tricks of the trade from his Uncle Joe and refers to swimming pools as a “family business.” I reached out to him to answer some of WIRED’s most pressing questions. This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
WIRED: Are you tired of talking about all this yet?
Steve Goodall: This is like the Simpsons episode where the devil force-feeds Homer donuts. “So, you like talking about swimming pools, huh?”
“We heard you like to talk about pools, so we’re going to give you pools 24/7.”
I’ve been talking about them forever. Now everyone is listening.
A lot of reporters have been calling you and asking you, what exactly is wrong with the Lincoln Memorial Pool. But from watching your videos, it seems difficult to say that there is something specific wrong with them.
There is not enough information in terms of photos, videos and water chemistry values.
A natural pond, a clear water environment outdoors – that’s what it is – there are a lot of moving parts here. It’s the structure, it’s the chemistry of the water, it’s the filtration. There are a lot of things that have to work in tandem.
I’ve been saying for decades, I think swimming pools are the origin of the term “waterless.” If you don’t do every part of your job right, it’s very easy to see that something is wrong.
Experts like you can see 101 ways a project like this could fail, even with a very talented and experienced team doing the renovation.
Swimming pools are mercilessly complicated, and I’m talking about little ones. This is literally huge. It would take a master’s degree in technical implementation to be able to work on this thing efficiently.
But you don’t need Swimming Pool Steve to tell you that when you see what appears to be the inner surface peeling off and floating up into little pieces, it’s an “oh crap” moment.
I’ve seen some speculation that hydrogen peroxide may be the cause of peeling pool bottoms. But you made a video about the lining, and you said it might be more complicated than that.
There is merit to this line of thinking. These interior surfaces are extremely resistant to chemicals, but they are not infinitely resistant to chemicals. It’s about what it’s used for, what concentrations it’s used for — all these unanswered questions.
But with a membrane system like this, there are a lot of technical points you have to clear up during installation. You have to take into account ambient conditions such as rain, sun, humidity, moisture control of the substrate, thickness, evenness and chemical compatibility. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in this process. If the material does not adhere to the substrate for any number of reasons, the entire system will eventually fail.
