Post: #1

http://abcnews.go.com/US/los-angeles-res...d=33038319

Always impressed by the ingenuity of some people. Cost effective compared to other solutions. Apparently the engineer noticed that water near airports had something similar to keep birds away.

Quote:The Los Angeles Reservoir looks like a giant ball pit.

The city poured 96 million, black, four-inch plastic balls over the surface of its 175-acre reservoir earlier this week - the first city in the country to use shade balls to preserve its water sources, officials said.

On his cue of “balls away,” Mayor Eric Garcetti released the final 20,000 shade balls into the reservoir on Monday in the city’s effort to conserve water and maintain the reservoir’s water quality.

“By reducing evaporation, these shade balls will conserve 300 million gallons of water each year,” Garcetti told ABC station KABC. “Instead of just evaporating into the sky, that’s 300 million gallons to fight this drought.”

“This is a blend of how engineering really meets common sense. We saved a lot of money, we did all the right things,” LADWP general manager Marcie Edwards told KABC.

The city was able to purchase each plastic shade ball for 36 cents each, costing the city far less than its initial $300 million estimate to cover the reservoir, according to officials.

One expensive alternative to the shade balls included splitting the reservoir into two by building a bisecting dam and using two floating covers to protect the water, officials said.

The LA Reservoir holds 3.3 billion gallons of water, which could supply water to the entire city for up to three weeks, officials said.

Mayor Garcetti’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for additional comment.

Post: #2

This is really cool. It's like a giant pool cover.

Post: #3

This is going to come off as a stupid question in all likelihood, and maybe I'm too sleep-deprived to realize why this makes sense, but...

WHY DID THEY CHOOSE BLACK BALLS?

Wouldn't white balls act to reflect radiation, whereas black ones are going to absorb it and heat up, thus heating the reservoir more? I know either way it'll help, but am I missing something?

EDIT: Read more into it, apparently they're treated with a UV-reflective coating.

Post: #4

I believe one option was to split the reservoir and try to cover the water but it was too expensive. So they came up with this. Apparently the balls will last 10 years.

Water is becoming more precious than oil (I know I am exaggerating - but it is rising in value).


Additional info:

By deflecting UV rays, the opaque spheres are expected to protect more than 300 million gallons of water from evaporating in Southern California's harsh sunlight every year.

LADWP was the first utility company to use this technology to protect water, according to a press release from Garcetti.

"In the midst of California's historic drought, it takes bold ingenuity to maximize my goals for water conservation," the mayor said. "This effort by LADWP is emblematic of the kind of creative thinking we need to meet those challenges."

Besides slowing evaporation, the shade balls prevent sunlight from triggering a dangerous reaction between bromite, a chemical occurring naturally in groundwater, and the chlorine used to disinfect the water. When sunlight interacts with those two chemicals, Plastic News explains, the suspected carcinogen bromate is formed.

Post: #5

Probably goes without saying, but this was invented by a man. Men solving problems since the dawn of time.

Post: #6

(08-12-2015 07:58 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  I believe one option was to split the reservoir and try to cover the water but it was too expensive. So they came up with this. Apparently the balls will last 10 years.

Water is becoming more precious than oil (I know I am exaggerating - but it is rising in value).

I had a crazy teacher (maybe not so crazy after all) back in college, always was talking about how the wars of the future will not be for oil but for water..

Post: #7

I thought the same thing, Texas. My guess is that the black balls only increase the temperature locally near the top, but a white ball would necessarily have some translucence such that the entire water column below would experience a rise in temperature. The localized increase in temperature is favorable to a general increase in temperature because the limiting factor in the rate of evaporation is not going to be the top evaporating layer, but rather how quickly the layers immediately below can rise to an temperature conducive to evaporation.


That's just my guess.


Well, I guess the mystery was solved before I was able to submit this post. I'll leave it up so others can tell me I'm wrong.

Post: #8

(08-12-2015 08:05 PM)Aquiles_Baesta_Parada Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 07:58 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  I believe one option was to split the reservoir and try to cover the water but it was too expensive. So they came up with this. Apparently the balls will last 10 years.

Water is becoming more precious than oil (I know I am exaggerating - but it is rising in value).

I had a crazy teacher (maybe not so crazy) back in college, always was talking about how the wars of the future will not be for oil but for water..

I don't think he is wrong. I have seen such comments before. Here is a quick google search and you can see several articles on that.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=ch...er%20water

In a few countries the water has been privatized and the new owners are raising rates, I remember seeing in a documentary. There are a couple of French companies that have been acquiring left and right.

Post: #9

(08-12-2015 08:12 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 08:05 PM)Aquiles_Baesta_Parada Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 07:58 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  I believe one option was to split the reservoir and try to cover the water but it was too expensive. So they came up with this. Apparently the balls will last 10 years.

Water is becoming more precious than oil (I know I am exaggerating - but it is rising in value).

I had a crazy teacher (maybe not so crazy) back in college, always was talking about how the wars of the future will not be for oil but for water..

I don't think he is wrong. I have seen such comments before. Here is a quick google search and you can see several articles on that.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=ch...er%20water

In a few countries the water has been privatized and the new owners are raising rates, I remember seeing in a documentary. There are a couple of French companies that have been acquiring left and right.

Nestle and Coca-Cola have been privatizing municipal water sources all over the world. I mentioned in a different thread recently that the wars of this century will be over water and the mass human migration caused by climate change. In many places in the world 12 oz. of bottled water is more expensive than 12 ounces of cola. Municipalities in America that allow global corporations to purchase their most precious public resource are truly nearsighted, greedy, and ignorant. Eventually the US will have to annex Canada or at least become the North American Union or something similar. 95% of Canada's population lives within 5 miles of the US border anyway. I know America cant wait to get its hands on Canada's second greatest asset: its beautiful, feminine, non-violent women. (Sarcasm due to current events.)

Post: #10

Or they could just build desalination plants, making use of that ocean they got right there...

Post: #11

(08-12-2015 08:48 PM)MKDAWUSS Wrote:  Or they could just build desalination plants, making use of that ocean they got right there...

How cost effective is that now?

If things keep going this way, I guess it will be cost effective soon.

Post: #12

(08-12-2015 08:48 PM)MKDAWUSS Wrote:  Or they could just build desalination plants, making use of that ocean they got right there...

Or- like fingering a chick at the same time you jerk a load on her face- they could just do both. . .

Feminists of course will hate the idea of balls (representing patriarchy) covering and protecting clean water, the source of life (representing femininity), because of bullshit feminist reasoning.

Post: #13

The message is clear: Get some balls or go thirsty.

Post: #14

Good idea.

Wonder why they didn't use cubes which would stack together much better thus blocking out more light.

Post: #15

(08-12-2015 09:12 PM)Sooth Wrote:  Good idea.

Wonder why they didn't use cubes which would stack together much better thus blocking out more light.

I imagine if they were blocks maybe they wouldn't touch/connect to each other as easily as balls. With a ball I imagine at any point in time, it is the exact same shape, meaning exact amount is touching the water. Also, I imagine with squares they might stack on each other and be out of the water.

With a ball it can't stack, and same point of contact to the water no matter how you spin it. Which also means the same constant contact with other balls.

This is all bro science on my part. Where are the science guys to chime in?

Post: #16

(08-12-2015 08:56 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 08:48 PM)MKDAWUSS Wrote:  Or they could just build desalination plants, making use of that ocean they got right there...

How cost effective is that now?

If things keep going this way, I guess it will be cost effective soon.

Desalination is very energy intensive process it also produces huge amounts of an environmentally hazardous by product: brine.

Post: #17

(08-12-2015 09:35 PM)Natural Born Gyalist Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 08:56 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 08:48 PM)MKDAWUSS Wrote:  Or they could just build desalination plants, making use of that ocean they got right there...

How cost effective is that now?

If things keep going this way, I guess it will be cost effective soon.

Desalination is very energy intensive process it also produces huge amounts of an environmentally hazardous by product: brine.

Seems like every time we mess with someone, we create another issue.

Post: #18

(08-12-2015 09:16 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 09:12 PM)Sooth Wrote:  Good idea.

Wonder why they didn't use cubes which would stack together much better thus blocking out more light.

I imagine if they were blocks maybe they wouldn't touch/connect to each other as easily as balls. With a ball I imagine at any point in time, it is the exact same shape, meaning exact amount is touching the water. Also, I imagine with squares they might stack on each other and be out of the water.

With a ball it can't stack, and same point of contact to the water no matter how you spin it. Which also means the same constant contact with other balls.

This is all bro science on my part. Where are the science guys to chime in?

Good points.

One block may only have one side ever exposed to the sun reducing the life.

I'm sure they did much research.

Post: #19

So if putting balls on top of something keeps moisture from evaporating, then teabagging women is good for moisturizing their faces?

Post: #20

Thread title would have been better if it had been "BIG BLACK BALLS SAVE L.A."

Post: #21

(08-12-2015 09:53 PM)monster Wrote:  Thread title would have been better if it had been "BIG BLACK BALLS SAVE L.A."

No one is ever happy!!!!!

Title from article.

Post: #22

Best way to save water? Everyone go vegan/vegetarian. You never hear about how much water is used in animal agriculture, and it's a little bit more than the suggestions of showering less or regulations like only washing your car or watering your lawn on certain days of the week would conserve.

But since that's a super hard sell, little solutions like the black balls help, too. Definitely a cool idea I can appreciate.

Post: #23

(08-12-2015 07:57 PM)Texas_Tryhard Wrote:  WHY DID THEY CHOOSE BLACK BALLS?

The same reason anyone chooses black balls over white ones -- they are bigger!

Post: #24

Won't these balls eventually degrade from the sun, wind, temperature changes and so on, and start leaking dangerous chemicals into the water?

I'm sure that they thought about that when planning the project, but just curious. If I left a hundred pin-sized plastic balls in a glass of water and came back after a few months, I might be a bit reluctant to drink it...

Post: #25

HCE:

From my reading more into this, the coating is designed to help the balls resist UV, which would break them down over time. Otherwise, it's high-density polyethylene, same as what we make milk gallons out of, so its non-leeching. After 10 years the balls will likely split at the seams, but that's the only significant breakdown that's expected. It all depends on the type of plastic. If you made these out of the clear shitty plastic that bottled water is sold in, it'd be a different story.