Over the next two months, more than 5,000 pounds of a white powder, WaterSavr, is to be spread over Lake Arrowhead to form a film in an effort to slow surface water evaporation of the reservoir.
Last year, evaporation cost Texas 2 trillion gallons of water, and it has been eliminating as much as 40 million gallons of water a day from drought-stricken Wichita Falls’ supply this summer, reports The Texas Tribune.
Four workers of Flexible Solutions will apply WaterSavr every three days to Lake Arrowhead—about one pound per acre of water surface. The expected cost is $400,000 for the product and labor.
WaterSavr is mix of food-grade lime and palm oil extract. During application the mixture is combined with water to create a milky-slurry concoction, which is poured into the lake through two pipes located at the back of a boat. Flexible Solutions believes their product also solves the problem of the chemical being less effective when wind blows it to one side of the lake to leave untreated surface area. Their claim is the lime powder consists of same-charge ions that if wind causes the powder to cluster, ionic repulsion should spread it back across the lake.