Evaporation mitigation using floating modular devices

- Evaporation has been mitigated by 43% with modular units of near zero-cost, readily available recycled materials.
- Evaporation rate decreases linearly in proportion to covered surface area.
- Mitigation effectiveness is higher in coastal zones than the arid zones.

SummaryReducing evaporation losses from open water storages is of paramount importance in the improvement of water security in arid countries, including Australia. Widespread adoption of evaporation mitigation techniques has been prevented by their high capital and maintenance or operating costs. The use of clean, floating recycled materials to mitigate evaporation technique has been investigated systematically at sites within both the coastal and semi-arid zones of Australia. Evaporation reduction systematically increases with the proportion of covered surface. Evaporation is reduced by 43% at coastal site and 37% at arid zone site at the maximum packing densities achievable for a single layer of floating devices. The study highlights the importance of both long-term investigations and the climatic influences in the robust quantification of evaporation mitigation. The effects of solar radiation, temperature, wind speed and relative humidity on the evaporation rate at both study sites have been determined in terms of both the classical Penman model and FAO Penman Monteith model with corresponding pan coefficients quantified. FAO Penman Monteith model better estimates evaporation from the open reference tank.