Comments on: 3 Million Black Balls Fight Carcinogenic Reservoir

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:17:00 +0000

No spoof, David.

And, Andy, what sort of inventive ideas do you dream up and never file patents for?

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:05:00 +0000

Surely black plastic balls coating a reservoir in hot weather under strong sunshine are going to degrade rapidly and leach plasticizers and other stuff into the water, not to mention the fact that they could provide a nice comfortable growing medium for the likes of Cryptosporidium and other nasties. All very silly. I hope it’s a spoof.

By: Andy @ bloginyourface

Andy @ bloginyourface — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:49:00 +0000

The black balls are cool! The brain power in the field of environmental engineering is incredible. How in the world do you think that people come up with ideas like that? In their sleep?

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:17:00 +0000

I saw that there are outstanding petitions into the EPA for the agency to remove bromate as a carcinogen, so I understand what you mean. Thanks for the comment!

By: dlzc

dlzc — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:29:00 +0000

The balls (comprised of the same HDPE plastic as tupperware) were designed to protect the 10-acre, 58-million gallon reservoir from sunlight, of which ozone had mixed with disinfectant chlorine and naturally-occurring bromide ions, to fight cancer-causing bromate.

Bromate is not a *human* carcinogen, only a couple of species of mutant rats. Potassium bromate causes renal cell tumors in them. Sodium bromate has been tested, for years, and in high doses, and has not shown carcinogenic effects.

Please stick with "suspected human carcinogen".