Controversy around the rescue ball in Los Angeles

Events of Los Angeles, USA officials, using 96 million plastic balls to prevent lake water from evaporating in early August are facing strong criticism from experts.

Saving ball in Los Angeles danger or solution?

The city of Los Angeles released $ 34.5 million small black plastic balls into the 708,200 m2 Van Norman Complex reservoir in Sylmar area on August 10. Mayor Eric Garcetti said the balls would create a coating to prevent 1,135 million liters of water from evaporating during the prolonged drought.

The small black plastic balls were dropped on Van Norman Complex in Los Angeles, USA, on August 10.(Photo: Discovery.)

In an interview with Fox News on August 20, experts gave different opinions about the most suitable colors for plastic balls. However, they all shared that the black color used by the Los Angeles government was the worst option.

"The black spheres under the hot sun will form a heat curtain that promotes the evaporation process as well as providing a huge surface area for bacteria to grow in warm water, " said Matt MacLeod, founder Modern Moon Farms biology company in California said.

According to Robert Shibatani, a hydrologist at the environmental consultancy group The Shibitani Group, all colors help prevent evaporation due to wind, but in summer heat conditions run out of storage water. , color is the decisive factor.

"The most ideal color is chrome white. The least suitable option is black with almost zero refraction," Shibatani said.

Biologist Nathan Krekula, a health science professor at Bryant & Stratton University, Milwaukee, says black balls will absorb heat, transfer heat into the water and cause evaporation. He agrees with the MacLeod that the heat will facilitate favorable growth for bacteria.

" The bacteria need a dark, warm and humid environment. The balls are the perfect habitat for them. Therefore, the most important task is to keep the balls clean, " Krekula said.

Sydney Chase, Director of XavierC, one of the companies that provides plastic balls for the project, said the shade is the result of adding pure black carbon to polyethylene plastic to absorb ultraviolet rays and prevent sunlight from penetrating. plastic layer. Using other colors will require dye. The dye can penetrate the water while the carbon layer is not.