Evaluation of the capacity of PET bottles, water aeration, and water recirculation to reduce evaporation in containers of water

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of an evaporation reduction method in which the greater part of the water surface was covered with PET-type plastic bottles. The capacity of this method to diminish natural evaporation was compared to water aeration, water recirculation, and the control (without intervention). With evolutionary computation, including genetic algorithms and genetic programming, equations for calculating evaporation were developed based on meteorological factors. Methods: Four containers of water were placed on a flat roof in Mexico City (thus exposed to the factors of weather), and evaporation was measured daily with an evaporimeter. Each container was assigned to one of the evaporation reduction methods (PET bottles, water aeration, or water recirculation) or to the control (without intervention). Evaporation-related variables were selected according to previous reports and principal component analysis, and their values were acquired from a nearby meteorological station. The study was conducted from April of 2020 to February of 2021. Results: Covering the water surface with PET bottles avoided 38.61% (a total of 139 mm) of natural evaporation, which is represented by the control. The water aeration and water recirculation methods diminished evaporation by 7.22% (26 mm) and 2.22% (8 mm), respectively. The best equations for estimating evaporation were obtained with genetic programming for the control container and a genetic algorithm for the container with PET bottles. Conclusions: The PET bottle method of evaporation reduction was 7 and 17 times more effective than water aeration and water recirculation, respectively. The 38.61% decrease in evaporation achieved by covering the water surface with PET bottles constitutes a substantial savings in water. Hence, the implementation of such a method should be considered to contribute to water conservation in reservoirs. The use of PET bottles is a practical and inexpensive method requiring only a few cleaning maneuvers to prevent the proliferation of unwanted aquatic fauna. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).