Evaporation mitigation by floating modular devices

7th International Symposium on Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces

Hassan, M.M.^1 ; Peirson, W.L.^1,2

Water Research Laboratory, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, 110 King Street, Manly Vale

NSW

2093, Australia^1

New College, University of New South Wales, Kensington

NSW

2052, Australia^2

关键词: Agricultural productions;    Annual precipitation;    Cost-effective solutions;    Cost-optimal design;    Linearly proportional;    Manufactured products;    Mitigation techniques;    Water availability;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/35/1/012022/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1755-1315/35/1/012022

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Prolonged periods of drought and consequent evaporation from open water bodies in arid parts of Australia continue to be a threat to water availability for agricultural production. Over many parts of Australia, the annual average evaporation exceeds the annual precipitation by more than 5 times. Given its significance, it is surprising that no evaporation mitigation technique has gained widespread adoption to date. High capital and maintenance costs of manufactured products are a significant barrier to implementation. The use of directly recycled clean plastic containers as floating modular devices to mitigate evaporation has been investigated for the first time. A six-month trial at an arid zone site in Australia of this potential cost effective solution has been undertaken. The experiment was performed using clean conventional drinking water bottles as floating modules on the open water surface of 240-L tanks with three varying degrees of covering (nil, 34% and 68%). A systematic reduction in evaporation is demonstrated during the whole study period that is approximately linearly proportional to the covered surface. These results provide a potential foundation for robust evaporation mitigation with the prospect of implementing a cost-optimal design.