Los Angeles County officials have been dumping hollow black polyethylene balls — aka “shade balls” — into city reservoirs to prevent the water from evaporating.
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti has said that these balls will protect water quality by “preventing sunlight-triggered chemical reactions, deterring birds and other wildlife, and protecting water from rain and wind-blown dust.”
The balls cost $0.36 a pop* and are designed to cover a large percentage of the water’s surface, acting as a nice shade to help with evaporation and prevent algae formation.
YUP, over 24 million dollars, and it’s still one of the cheaper options.
This experiment shows black plastic balls actually could make water evaporate FASTER rather than slower.
According to Bloomberg, the four-inch-wide shadeballs are coated with a UV-light blocking chemical.
What is known is that it’s supposedly to fight algae and carcinogens that are formed when chemicals “added” to the water supply are exposed to sunlight.
What happens when super heated black plastic sits in water – probably more carcinogens I’d imagine – but whats even worse is the plastic balls are themselves coated in UV blocking chemicals that are also likely carcinogenic.
First of all, what is the chemical coating these plastic balls that blocks ultraviolet light comprised of exactly? Does that leach over time? Are they sure it doesn’t? No mention in the press, so I guess someone somewhere deemed it’s “safe” (a word that means less and less these days in the modern American corporatocracy and its bought-and-paid-for bureaucratic circles…).
Going back to elementary school, doesn’t black absorb heat faster than lighter colors? Wouldn’t that hasten evaporation?
Most of us attempt to do is avoid plastic when it is coming in contact with our food and drink, so that we won’t be directly ingesting these chemicals when we dine. If we can’t for one reason or another, we definitely avoid using plastic in combination with hot food and drink.
Why? Because hormone mimickers and endocrine disruptors can cause a multitude of health problems including cancer!!!
Now California has purposefully dumped 96 million pieces of plastic into the drinking water to float on the water’s surface all day long every single day and bake in the sun.
Who knows what the long-term effects of this seemingly short-sighted, quick fix is going to be down the road.
Is the government is creating artificial scarcity of water while poisoning California drinking water?
