It's 'balls away!'

[Lee Borgersen]

     It's 'balls away!' for water conservation.

Why 96 million 'shadeballs' were just released into the LA Reservoir. 
 

Video:

 http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/its-balls-away-for-water-conservation/vi-BBlH8Xi

[Boar]

hmmmm black shade balls, black.... dosent black absorbe sunlight  and white reflect it. but then again im not an science guy

[beeker]

boar it's LA. with  these black balls in the reservoir they will now get the LA police department out there on their off time to wack em with their batons which will keep the cormorants away also.. it's a win win

[Bobby Bass]

hmmmm black shade balls, black.... dosent black absorbe sunlight  and white reflect it. but then again im not an science guy

  The black balls don't let the light penetrate into the water. White or clear balls would let light penetrate into the water and the idea is to slow or stop growth. Can't do to much about heat but if you can take away light makes it hard to maintain life. Bet there won't be much fishing done there. Which I had the contract for that job...

[Boar]

I thought the video said to stop evaporation, which heat will do. it also said algee bloom and understand with sunlight, but if it evaporation happens ain no water to bloom anything

[Bobby Bass]

I thought the video said to stop evaporation, which heat will do. it also said algee bloom and understand with sunlight, but if it evaporation happens ain no water to bloom anything

Balls do a couple of things, first off they provide a barrier between water and wind/air which slows down evaporation and they may not cool the surface water but they do cool the water as a whole. Another part of evaporation is energy which is heat. Also reduces wave action which is another factor in evaporation. Warmer the water gets the quicker it will evaporate. I don't remember where I read it but a typical MN lake can lose ten inches of water during a summer month due to evaporation.

[Boar]

gotcha, makes sense, thanks Double B