SHADE BALLS.....

[Downunder]

All new to me!

 

[MEDIA=liveleak]d05_1439333556[/MEDIA]

 

Los Angeles dumps 96 million plastic balls into a reservoir

 

City officials released 20,000 shade balls into the Los Angeles Reservoir Monday, the final step in a $34.5 million water quality protection project.

 

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power project involved the release of 96 million shade balls into the reservoir at the Van Norman Complex in Sylmar.

 

"This is a blend of how engineering really meets common sense. We saved a lot of money, we did all the right things," said LADWP General Manager Marcie Edwards.

 

Los Angeles was the first city in the United States to use shade balls, which now cover three other reservoirs. The 4-inch balls are weighted down with water inside, which helps keep them in place to block out sunlight on the water's surface.

 

The black plastic shade balls, which are made in Los Angeles for 36 cents, protect the water against dust, rain, birds, wildlife and chemical reactions caused by the sun. It also helps keep the water in the reservoir from evaporating.

 

"By reducing evaporation, these shade balls will conserve 300 million gallons of water each year, instead of just evaporating into the sky. That's 300 million gallons to fight this drought," Mayor Eric Garcetti said.

 

Mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency to cover all reservoirs, initial estimates came in at $300 million to cover the 175-acre facility, but the shade balls cost less than $35 million. These major savings, both financially and environmentally, are setting Los Angeles ahead of the curve.

 

"While it's meeting the minimum standards, we want to go beyond that and have the healthiest water so we've been spreading these balls everywhere," Garcetti said.

 

City officials say shade balls last about 10 years. The LADWP says they will be removed, recycled and replaced.

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

I looked at a similar dam protection device, not spherical, but pancake shaped and a bit "hexagonal" like, plastic construction. They had been developed by a mining company with research assistance by an Australian University - when I remember the name and find their site, I'll link it.

 

 

 

The pancakes floated on the water surface and were shaped to slide off each other, so in very windy conditions where they might be blown up one end, they soon rearranged themselves to recover the dam. Was to save on water evaporation which can be massive over large shallow dams resulting in increasingly saline water. The other bonus is reducing floating and perching bird life in the dam, although the effects of that are usually rounded up at the treatment plant through disinfection and flocculation. They are not new, just expensive.

 

 

 

EDIT - was Rio Tinto - google Rio Tinto dam evaporation prevention.

 

 

 

Sue

 

 

[old man emu]

"flocculation"

Sue,

 

Please refrain from angry outbursts directed towards the peoples of Asia.

 

OME

 

 

[skeptic36]

96 million

 

Who put the water in each one?

 

I could shade a small reservoir with my balls, much cheaper than that.

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Not sure I understand some of the claims in the original article.....I understand the claim for evaporation, and in Australia such an approach for parts of the country would seem obvious, but Im stuffed if I can see how they would "protect the water against dust, rain...." so how does the dust claim work, and whats with protecting water against water.......evaporation was the last claim and Im guessing its the biggest single affect.

 

Andy

 

P.S I wonder if you had those snow load spreading walking shoes if you could then do a "walk on water" impression........suspect the load spreading surface would need to be pretty big...especially in my case.....

 

 

[fly_tornado]

my only question: why aren't they white?

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

More dedrading plastic in your water supply is a wonderful advance, a triumph of green intelligence.

 

 

[Fishla]

Wonder how much stuff leeches out of the plastic...

 

 

[Nobody]

I love how everyone here is an instant critic.

 

Here is the link to the website of the company that supplies the balls. They have a useful FAQ section that will provide some answers for you.

 

http://eccllc.us/products/hollow-balls/

 

 

[mnewbery]

Compared to the caffiene, anti-biotics, birth control hormones and street drugs, plastic like BPA in the water isn't really an issue. I don't know if the water coming from rain or an aquifer has these or not. Ask the farmers if they want water with a bit of plastic or no water during a drought. Its their call. Then they add pesticides or whatever anyway

 

 

[fly_tornado]

California gets its water from the snow melt and ground water

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

I love how everyone here is an instant critic.

The joke is on the kooks running CA. If you've been following this rolling water shortage situation there and the intentional destruction of the previously very fertile San Joaquin Valley you know that the situation was repeatedly forewarned and entirely self inflicted. Similar to here, Greens - sometimes well meaning but always plain stupid - ruin everything they are involved with. And their best answer is plastic balls. Or more government subsidies.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

GNu you should run for parliament. Genius party

 

 

[skeptic36]

Compared to the caffiene, anti-biotics, birth control hormones and street drugs, plastic like BPA in the water isn't really an issue. I don't know if the water coming from rain or an aquifer has these or not. Ask the farmers if they want water with a bit of plastic or no water during a drought. Its their call. Then they add pesticides or whatever anyway

Damn those farmers

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

To answer some of Andy's questions ... My background is in Civil Engineering of town water treatment plants. Some of these modules were developed for arid areas where it doesn't rain much, and the water is either trucked / pumped in, or is harvested from a nearby river when it reaches certain height and velocity (under an EPA permit). Once you've got it you want to keep as much as possible; evaporation costing real money. Protecting from sunlight means less algae & plant growth, particularly the types detrimental to human health, cooler, less attractive to wildlife (cattle that muddy the edges, roos, birds etc), less evaporation (a product of heat, dry air and wind on exposed water). Dust (and bird poo) mainly settles on the modules - which Rio Tinto reps suggested could be washed or dusted off when you pulled them out of the water for inspection, which I though too expensive, let the wind blow it off.

 

As for "protecting from rain" I'm with you :see no evil:it sounds ridiculous, but possible with issues of turbidity, acid rain or aqueous solutions that shouldn't be diluted. All the modules I looked at were designed to have rain run off into the water underneath. Like these modules, the balls are likely to have holes in the underside to let water in. At 36 cents each, no one is filling and capping (I hope!)

 

 

 

mnewbery - "caffiene, anti-biotics, birth control hormones and street drugs, plastic like BPA in the water ... " town water comes from the river, which is pure, uncontaminated etc, just downstream from the next town's sewerage treatment plant:oh yeah:

 

 

[old man emu]

my only question: why aren't they white?

More damned racism!!!!

 

OME

 

 

[Ultralights]

i wonder if they have implemented water restrictions yet?

 

 

[cooperplace]

my only question: why aren't they white?

white would be better for reflecting heat, but black is better for stopping UV degradation, is my guess.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

I love how everyone here is an instant critic.

Well I'm with Andy, how the hell can it stop dust ..... it increases the available surface area for dust to settle on possibly increasing the dust contamination levels.

 

 

[PA.]

Black Plastic Balls would be UV Stable. White would break down at a much faster rate.

 

Re the dust, yeah I call BS on that one too, except 100% of dust that lands on the water will stay but a percentage of dust that lands on the balls may get blown off. I doubt my balls would get blown off if I put them in a dam.

 

The plastic balls would have the water inserted automatically in production. Easy thing to do.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

[/url]

 

LA's scheme to cover a reservoir under 96 million "shade balls" may not be all it is touted to be

, experts told FoxNews.com, with some critics going so far as to refer to the plan as a "potential disaster." Experts differed over the best color for the tiny plastic balls, with one telling FoxNews.com they should have been white and another saying a chrome color would be optimal. But all agreed that the worst color for the job is the one LA chose. "Black spheres resting in the hot sun will form a thermal blanket speeding evaporation as well as providing a huge amount of new surface area for the hot water to breed bacteria," said Matt MacLeod, founder of the California biotech firm Modern Moon Farms. "Disaster. It’s going to be a bacterial nightmare.”

 

Biologist Nathan Krekula, a professor of health science at Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee, said black balls will absorb heat, transfer it to the water and cause evaporation. And he agreed with MacLeod that the heat will prove hospitable to bacteria." Bacteria required a few things to grow a dark, warm and moist environment," he said. "The balls will give them the perfect environment to live in.

 

[octave]

[/url]

 

LA's scheme to cover a reservoir under 96 million "shade balls" may not be all it is touted to be

, experts told FoxNews.com, with some critics going so far as to refer to the plan as a "potential disaster." Experts differed over the best color for the tiny plastic balls, with one telling FoxNews.com they should have been white and another saying a chrome color would be optimal. But all agreed that the worst color for the job is the one LA chose. "Black spheres resting in the hot sun will form a thermal blanket speeding evaporation as well as providing a huge amount of new surface area for the hot water to breed bacteria," said Matt MacLeod, founder of the California biotech firm Modern Moon Farms. "Disaster. It’s going to be a bacterial nightmare.”

 

Biologist Nathan Krekula, a professor of health science at Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee, said black balls will absorb heat, transfer it to the water and cause evaporation. And he agreed with MacLeod that the heat will prove hospitable to bacteria." Bacteria required a few things to grow a dark, warm and moist environment," he said. "The balls will give them the perfect environment to live in.

http://space.io9.com/why-are-drought-balls-black-instead-of-white-1724040253

 

 

[Downunder]

So GG, you're saying they're going to end up with hairy balls?........

 

 

[rankamateur]

Wonder how much stuff leeches out of the plastic...

This is why birth rates in Scandinavian countries are plummeting, by reducing sperm counts, guess it will just speed the demise of the mighty western dominance.

 

 

[rankamateur]

I could shade a small reservoir with my balls, much cheaper than that.

Just some experience from a misspent youth, sunburn is going to be a real pain, but I admire your selfless offer for the greater good.