The federal government awarded Green Water Solutions a $1.7 million no-bid contract in April to install a Nano Bubble water cleaning system at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, putting a donor-linked company at the center of a high-profile federal project. The award was made by the Department of the Interior and is meant to replace failing filtration infrastructure.
The contract is getting attention now because Green Water Solutions is an Ohio-based company whose owner is listed in federal contracting documents as JJ Cafaro Investment Trust, and federal election filings identify John J. Cafaro as the trust’s president and CEO. Cafaro has given extensively to Donald Trump and Trump-linked groups, including $250,000 to the Trump Victory fundraising committee in 2020.
The Reflecting Pool is not a small job. It spans more than 300,000 square feet and has struggled with algae blooms for years. Trump discussed the overhaul at length, visited the site and handpicked the color of an industrial-grade sealant installed on the pool’s stone floor, called American Flag Blue. That made the April award to Green Water Solutions more than a routine maintenance contract; it tied a politically sensitive federal job to a company with a long record of donating to Trump-related causes.
Green Water Solutions also has previous government and Trump-world connections. Federal contracting records show it received a $1 million contract in 2025 for a feasibility study on using its Nano Bubble system to treat sewage flows in the Tijuana River, and the company posted photos on its LinkedIn page of water treatment work it performed at the president’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, more than a year ago. Those links do not answer the basic procurement question, though: why the Department of the Interior chose a no-bid award for the Reflecting Pool work instead of opening the project to competition.
The company has said its patented NanoBubble Ozone Technology is an environmentally conscious, science-based treatment process for water remediation in sensitive environments, and that the byproduct is oxygen. What remains unresolved is the government’s reason for going straight to Green Water Solutions in April, especially on a contract meant to clean one of the most visible water features in the country. For now, the award stands as both a technical fix and a political test of how the federal government handled the job.
