Company owned by Trump donor won $1.7 million no-bid Reflecting Pool cleaning contract

Washington — The federal government awarded a company owned by a Trump donor a $1.7 million contract to install a new water cleaning system for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, federal records show, as President Trump pushes to overhaul the pool — and struggles with a bout of algae and a peeling paint job.

The no-bid contract to install a “Nano Bubble” filtration system went to Green Water Solutions, an Ohio-based company whose owner is listed on federal contracting documents as “JJ Cafaro Investment Trust.” The president and CEO of that trust is identified as John J. Cafaro on Federal Election Commission filings. 

Cafaro has donated to several GOP candidates and conservative causes in recent years. He has donated extensively to Mr. Trump’s campaign and to Trump-linked groups, giving $250,000 to the Trump Victory fundraising committee at one point in 2020. FEC records show he also made donations to Democrats at various points. 

A businessman and real estate developer, Cafaro pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in 2010 over donations to his daughter’s congressional campaign. Nearly a decade earlier, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Rep. James Traficant, and cooperated with prosecutors.

Cafaro and his wife own a home in Palm Beach, Florida, less than a mile from the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Green Water Solutions is also known as Greenwater Services. Inquiries to Cafaro did not yield a response, and the company referred CBS News to the National Park Service, a division of the Department of the Interior. The New York Times was first to report on Cafaro’s involvement in the Reflecting Pool project.  

On its website, Green Water Solutions describes its specialty as purifying water to remove algae, bacteria and other contaminants using a system that injects ozone-infused “nano bubbles” into the water.

Federal contracting records show that the company received one other government contract: A $1 million contract in 2025 for a feasibility study on using its Nano Bubble system to treat sewage flows in the Tijuana River.

Green Water Solutions also appeared to do work on a Trump Organization property. On its LinkedIn page, the company posted photos of water treatment work it performed on a pond at the president’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, more than a year ago. 

Now, Green Water Solutions has been hired to take on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a century-old basin of shallow water that spans more than 300,000 square feet and has struggled with algae blooms for years. Mr. Trump has taken a personal interest in the Reflecting Pool’s overhaul, discussing the project at length, visiting the site and handpicking the color of an industrial-grade sealant that was installed on the pool’s stone floor: “American Flag Blue.”

Green Water Solutions was hired in April by the Department of the Interior to install a Nano Bubble system at the Reflecting Pool, replacing “the existing, failing filtration infrastructure.”

The contract was awarded without a full competitive bidding process. The government cited a contracting rule designed for projects of “unusual and compelling urgency,” pointing to the need to fix the Reflecting Pool in time for the nation’s 250th birthday on July 4. It also called the Nano Bubble system a “highly specialized and niche technology with limited domestic suppliers.”

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers rebuffed any suggestion of a conflict of interest.

“This contract was awarded by the Department of Interior; the White House did not play any role in the selection process,” Rogers said. CBS News has reached out to the Interior Department for comment.

Cafaro on Friday told The Vindicator, a local newspaper in Youngstown, Ohio, that Mr. Trump “doesn’t know a thing about” his company’s work with the Reflecting Pool, saying he would “never talk to [the president] about it” because “you don’t do things to put friends in awkward positions.”

Cafaro also said, “I have no idea why this is an issue,” arguing “the system is working” to kill algae, and the public attention is driven by “people who don’t seem to like Trump.”

A separate $14.7 million no-bid contract was given to Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings to install sealant on the floor of the Reflecting Pool, federal contracting records show.

Several days ago, after water was pumped back into the Reflecting Pool, issues began to arise. A sheen of algae appeared in the water earlier this week, and by Thursday, the newly installed pool surface appeared to peel off in at least one location.

An Interior Department spokesperson said the algae bloom was caused by “residual algae” from stagnant water that sat in the pool’s supply lines, calling it “part of the normal startup process.” The department later said on X the Nano Bubble system “very effectively killed the algae.” CBS News has reached out to the department about the peeling sealant.

Work crews were then seen cleaning out algae and pouring hydrogen peroxide into the water. Also spotted in recent days: a Nano Bubble system.