It Takes A Lot of Balls...

[Glassman]

Look at this ingeniously simple way Los Angeles officials are combating California's drought:

With California's record-breaking drought well into its fourth year, Los Angeles is getting creative on the — relative — cheap to protect the city's water. Officials released 20,000 shade balls into the Los Angeles Reservoir on Monday, the [URL='http://www.dailynews.com/environment-and-nature/20150810/garcetti-officials-release-20000-shade-balls-into-la-reservoir']Los Angeles Daily News reports.

What, you ask, is a shade ball? Basically what it sounds like: a black, plastic ball that, when joined with 19,999 of its buddies, does a pretty good job of protecting the reservoir's precious H2O against everything from dust and rain to evaporation. Also, they look insanely weird being dispensed — take a peek for yourself in the photos, below.[/URL]





I wonder...

How much does this cost?
And why black? Doesn't that heat up the water a bit? possibly causing the water to evaporate faster?

Just thinking out loud...

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Sounds like you California Clowns need to start building a pipeline to the East.

I would think that square plastic floats would cover more surface area for the buck. Leave it to government officials to think things through...

 

[Jim Robeson]

That's the one of the craziest things I've seen. But I guess you have to try something when you all have been in a drought situation for that long.

 

[Scottintexas]

if they were square you wouldn't get the enjoyment of watching them roll down the side of that hill into the water, jeez, is it really that long ago since you were 12?

 

[Eurocat]

How much does this cost?
And why black? Doesn't that heat up the water a bit? possibly causing the water to evaporate faster?

Just thinking out loud...

I was thinking just that. Even if some is recovered through condensation, most will likely evaporate since the surfaces leave plenty of gaps.
not sure how well that was though out...

My second thought was...
Man that's gonna clog the intake.

 

[GTBRMC]

Obviously, when you dump truckloads of balls into the reservoir, the water level rises. Water level rises when there is more water in the reservoir. Therefore, they now have more water.

Geez, you guys are stoooooopid.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

I pity the fool that's got to remove said balls. I doubt the picture will have near as many smiles as the folks dumping the balls in.

I blame this whole thing on the guy still wearing a suit while dumping the balls. As if it was some ceremonial grand opening.

 

[sysinu]

That's pretty cool. ... you'd think they wouldn't have colored them black considering the impact that absorbing all light has on heat, but... .. . cool idea.

 

[NKTARHEEL]

So let's think, how long will it take for someone to realize that thousands of black plastic balls floating on the water in extreme sunlight/heat release harmful chemicals into the water? Remember the BPA/plastic water bottle in the sun issue not that long ago?

And I second the idea of why use black colored balls, they'll absorb more heat, leading to hotter water, thus increasing evaporation. Silver or white seem like a better choice.

Imagine sitting on the water in your blacked out boat interior on a hot sunny day!

 

[Big Shasta]

Missed a spot.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Looks like the Daily Mail picked up on this one. A little bit more "scientific" info here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3194098/Could-plastic-balls-bring-relief-drought-stricken-California-Los-Angeles-releases-96-million-spheres-protect-reservoir-water.html


HOW DO THE SHADE BALLS WORK?

The plastic black balls, around the size of an apple, cost 36 cents each.

They floating on the surface and block the sun's rays to prevent water from evaporating.

By doing this, they prevent the chemical reaction that creates the carcinogenic compound bromate.

The balls also form a protective barrier across the surface that helps keep birds, animals and other contaminants out away

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Time to call Myth Busters!!

 

[subysti]

Myth busters? I think you should call ball busters, no wait she's sitting on the couch next to me.

 

[Big Shasta]

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Imagine one of those doors opening up on the highway!!

 

[Bill D]

I read today that they used 96 million of those little guys. At $0.36 each... That's a little over 34.5 MILLION DOLLARS!

 

[KXCam22]

I think they got the decimal place wrong. Maybe .036 cents each in mass. Unless they are Canadian balls then they are $3.60 each. Cam.

 

[Diybrad]

I think the guy at the ChuckECheese ball factory got lucky they could sell millions of black balls to California.

 

[marc7]

Interesting followup story..
Why shade balls aren’t such a great idea after all
http://grist.org/article/why-shade-balls-arent-such-a-great-idea-after-all/

 

[Gym]

Next we'll find that black balls cause sterility.