Ask an expert

On conventions, the public good, and why someone from the Federal government needs to take advantage of a rare confluence of experts to fix the Reflecting Pool

With a distressing biological upset continuing in the Reflecting Pool between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, some wild claims are being made that the problem is one of sneaky vandals turning a beloved national fixture the wrong color.

■ In realiy, the root cause of the problem is almost certainly one of nutrients, wherever they’re coming from. And those nutrients have fairly well-established solutions which experts are capable of assessing and addressing.

■ In an especially ironic turn, the problems at the Reflecting Pool are happening just as 10,000 of these water experts are converging on Washington for the American Water Works Association’s Annual Convention and Exposition. Some are even presenting on algae issues.

■ Expertise is a two-way street: Experts have to make themselves available for the good of the public, and the public has to be willing (sometimes through agents like government officials) to seek out that expert advice. If nobody in the Federal government manages to take the short drive to the Washington convention center to see if any of the 10,000 conference attendees could be recruited to make a quick field trip and offer some advie, then there’s little hope for getting the problem resolved. Wild conspiracy claims rarely have it right.