Why Are 96,000,000 Black Balls on This Reservoir?

I thought this youtube video explaining why a reservoir in California has 96,000,000 black balls on it was interesting, and apparently I'm not the only one since the video has had over 28,000,000 views already in the 1 week since the video was posted...that's a lot, right?



If you don't have time to watch the video, I'll tell you a little about it, spoiler alert.

The reservoir is part of the drinking water system in California which supplies I think the Los Angeles area.

Upstream from the reservoir is the water treatment plant which checks the water for carcinogenic substances and found they were all below safe limits at the treatment plant. From the treatment plant it goes to this reservoir and then to water users like a bottling plant, which happened to check the water for carcinogens and found unsafe levels of a carcinogenic chemical. So the water treatment plant was a little confused since they didn't see any such levels in their test, and this led to examining the reservoir as a source of the carcinogenic substance, which was confirmed. Not the reservoir itself, but while the water is in the open and exposed to sunlight, the sunlight can trigger a chemical reaction between the chlorine and a non-carcinogenic trace substance to form a carcinogenic substance.

So, they looked at various options to prevent this carcinogen from forming, and the option they ended up with was to use these 96,000,000 black balls to block the sunlight.

There were some unintended, but apparently beneficial side effects. One is that the balls prevent birds from accessing the water so there's less bird poop in the water with less birds hanging around. Another consideration was evaporation but there are competing factors that come into play which determine evaporation rates. The black absorbs a lot more sunlight than most other "colors" so just from the black color you might expect more evaporation, but I won't give you a spoiler for that side effect and let you find out from the video how it affects the evaporation overall.

My question to ATSers and maybe a conspiracy angle is this. If the bottled water plant hadn't done their test to find the carcinogenic chemical, then people could still be drinking that water with the carcinogens, right? Or were people already drinking carcinogen-tainted drinking water for years before the black balls got added to the reservoir? I don't know, I haven't done any research into that yet but wanted to share the video while it's still somewhat "fresh".

a reply to: Arbitrageur


My guess is to block the sun but I always wondered why they weren't a lighter color...

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Arbitrageur


My guess is to block the sun but I always wondered why they weren't a lighter color...

They did test other colors but the only stable pigment they found for such brutal exposure to sunlight is black, a claim I can confirm based on my professional expertise on that subject, based on a lot of testing of such pigments in such plastics.

Wow...! That's a lot of balls!!!

Who made the balls?

Guess I'll have to watch the video.

Edit....Why 96 million? Why not 95,800,000 or 96,100,000?

How long did it take to make 96 million black balls?

a reply to: Arbitrageur

One of my favorite channels

originally posted by: 4891morfih
Wow...! That's a lot of balls!!!

Who made the balls?

Guess I'll have to watch the video.

Edit....Why 96 million? Why not 95,800,000 or 96,100,000?

How long did it take to make 96 million black balls?

The video doesn't discuss the calculation for the number of balls, but presumably it's the number of balls needed to cover the surface of the reservoir when it's at its highest level.

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha
a reply to: Arbitrageur

One of my favorite channels

Mine too, he tries to make learning about science fun and interesting.

There isn't a single comment that I want to make, that won't violate T&Cs.

I feel powerless, in the face of restraint...

Triggered, even...

Where did the balls come from?

How much did each one cost?

Follow the money folks, follow the money.

Those black balls are expensive.

Solar panels on pontoons would have made a great deal more sense.

P

a reply to: Arbitrageur

The chlorinated water could cause the balls to decay and leech deadly chemicals into the reservoir.

originally posted by: pheonix358
Where did the balls come from?

How much did each one cost?

Follow the money folks, follow the money.

Those black balls are expensive.

Solar panels on pontoons would have made a great deal more sense.
P

The cost is discussed around 10 minutes in the video, where he says they are about 3 for a dollar initial cost, but the net cost is actually less than that. About half the cost of the balls is recouped because they don't have to use as much chlorine in the reservoir to control algae growth, plus the reduction in evaporation contributes to that savings. So the rest of the cost of about 16 million dollars is to improve water quality. Maybe not quite 16 million because the balls have a salvage value when their life span is up though he didn't say how much that was, but they are made of the same plastic as milk containers which are recycled.

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Arbitrageur

The chlorinated water could cause the balls to decay and leech deadly chemicals into the reservoir.

As I said part of the offset to the cost of the balls is that they don't have to add chlorine to the reservoir anymore to control algae growth like they used to. Also there's not anything toxic in them to leach out that I know of, they should just be HDPE with carbon black added, neither of which is toxic. HDPE isn't stable in sunlight but the added carbon black makes it stable, at least for the 10 year estimated life of the balls.

originally posted by: pheonix358
Where did the balls come from?

How much did each one cost?

Follow the money folks, follow the money.

Those black balls are expensive.

Solar panels on pontoons would have made a great deal more sense.

P

Right I was kind of joking with my comment but seriously it seems strange.

Some company made a ton of money on that contract!

a reply to: Arbitrageur

To Absorb Heat from the Sun and Evaporate the Water More Quickly ? ......Ah , Um ................

originally posted by: Zanti Misfit
a reply to: Arbitrageur

To Absorb Heat from the Sun and Evaporate the Water More Quickly ? ......Ah , Um ................

The Veritasium video maker was concerned about that, and it's a reasonable question to ask, but it's answered in the video.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Question to Commentator - " Why Aren't the Balls Colored White ? Are you Racist or Something > ? .....Hmm....

a reply to: Zanti Misfit

The state of California executed thousands of fish and frogs when killing off the sunlight. California isn't into caring about nature, like it used to be.

So now, the water has excessive amounts of endocrine disruptors in it, but not carcinogenic compounds? Oh, sounds really safe now.

The plastic surgeons will be filing a class action lawsuit because they won't be selling as many breast implants to women because they will naturally get larger breasts.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

*Insert x files theme*

I'm stumped, I've thrown my book of science at this (meaning I banged my head against the wall) and my best guess is that they kill bacteria, darker hues generate more heat, which is why storms are more violent in cities, due to all the asphalt reflecting heat. But on the other hand it could create bacteria and...

I'm done, I'm probably wrong and I will admit that fact, but I won't like it-mad scientists don't like admitting they are wrong.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Great.

But now what about all that plastic sitting on the water and heating up, and undoubtedly leeching and leaking plastic chemicals and whatnot into the water? A few years from now they're going to discover some #ty side effect from the plastic balls in the water and then come up with a solution for THAT cancer epidemic.


Just seems like the start of a giant chain of goatfu_kery.


Ok, and I just finished the video, and is anyone else a little disappointed at how they "researched" whether the shade balls would be effective? Here was their grand and extensive research: they filled three KIDDIE POOLS with reservoir water and covered them with different things. One KIDDIE POOL was covered with a tarp, one was in the shade, and one KIDDIE POOL was covered with the shade balls. And the shade balls in the ONE KIDDIE POOL knocked the bromide right out.

Would that experiment even pass at a high school science fair? No, no it wouldn't. I'm a professional musician with no science background except the musical acoustic class I took which fulfilled the one science credit I needed for my degree, and even I know that there should have been more than a kiddie pool filled to test the proposed solution to the CARCINOGENIC DRINKING WATER they were pumping into millions of homes. WTF??

I stand by my chain of goatfu_kery that this whole thing will turn into in the coming years.

originally posted by: Zanti Misfit
a reply to: Arbitrageur

Question to Commentator - " Why Aren't the Balls Colored White ? Are you Racist or Something > ? .....Hmm....

It sounds odd when he calls the "carbon black" a "magic powder" which of course it's not really "magic", but it is unique in that I know of no other economical substance which will stabilize HDPE in sunlight as well as carbon black will. The other color he tried to use was blue (three different shades), but the blue itself is not as stable a pigment as carbon black and the blue pigment doesn't stabilize the HDPE against sunlight like carbon black does.

a reply to: KansasGirl
answered here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Arbitrageur

The chlorinated water could cause the balls to decay and leech deadly chemicals into the reservoir.

Perhaps, maybe if they were chinese made with chinese material...