Reflecting pool algae contractor now under scrutiny for another project

Remember Greenwater Services, the company that got a no -bid contract to clean up the algae -filled reflecting pool?It turns out that wasn't the first no -bid government contract they're accused of botching.About a year earlier, Greenwater, owned by a longtime Trump supporter, received a $2 .4 million, again, no -bid contract to treat a health -threatening sewage crisis in California's Tijuana River using its nanobubble technology.It did not go so well.About a month after they started the project, a storm flooded that river and washed away some of the company's equipment, which leaked diesel into the river.Oscar Romo, executive director of the conservation nonprofit Alter Terra, has been working on cleaning up that river for nearly 50 years.

He shared these photos right here with The Moment, showing the equipment strewn across the cleanup site.Nothing got better, he told us.He actually argued it got a whole lot worse.Greenwater disputes Romo's account, telling the moment just one trailer drifted downstream and was recovered.As for the diesel spill, which it appears is you can see in one of Romo's photos.The company confirmed it, acknowledging a small spill in a report filed with the federal government, while also maintaining the experience generated valuable scientific data.

And the government appears to agree, arguing despite the need for significant modifications to that equipment, the project was a success.Does everyone agree?Well, a leading researcher, Dr. Kim Prather of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told us there just wasn't enough data collected to say that.In fact, she says she warned Greenwater that the Tijuana River was too volatile for those nanobubblers, for that technology.Greenwater didn't respond to her claims.Ultimately, she, along with other experts on that river, argued the project

was not only reckless by Greenwater, but a waste of taxpayer money.Nevertheless, a year later, Greenwater was back, this time deploying their nanobubbles to the reflecting pool.Greenwater claims it worked over there, clearing the pool of algae.Today, however, the reflecting pool is empty, drained for yet another round of repairs.