h a l f b a k e r yLeft for Bread
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Yes but... how much rain will it collect? 100 acres is
a lot of fabric, yet the same amount of rain falling
on the land is collected conveniently by rivers or
works its way into groundwater. |
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If rain falls equally on land and sea (and I have no
idea whether it does or not), then shirley the
umbrellas would have to have a total surface area of
at least a few percent that of the country they
supply, to have any real impact? |
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This sounds way too expensive. You'd be better off floating it on the sea. |
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Picture a layer of plastic, above which is a layer of bubble wrap, the two separated around the edge by an inflatable ring - like a vast version of an emergency life-raft. The bubble wrap floats on the fresh water (to reduce evaporation), and the whole thing floats on the sea (conveniently exploiting the lower density of fresh water). One or more holes (possibly weighted to form a local depression) allow rain to enter. |
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//Picture a layer of plastic, above which is a layer of
bubble wrap,......// |
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What??? What a dismal thing to picture - may I
recommend an alternative? Picture instead a steep
hillside dotted with olive trees, swooping gracefully
down to a timeless and secluded bay, where azure
waters lap gently on white sands, as a barnacle-
encrusted piece of grey-brown driftwood ebbs and
flows with the waves. |
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Damn, I'm getting a new guru. |
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The collected rainwater would still be contaminated with
salt spray; not much, but probably enough to make it
impotable. That's one reason why oceangoing vessels have
always required covered cisterns. The other is evaporation,
which would also lessen effeciency to a fair degree. |
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What I'm picturing is a semi-submerged, tangled and torn mass of plastic along with the crumpled remnants of support structures all being pounded against a rocky shoreline somewhere after the first big storm. The ocean is a harsh mistress, my friend. |
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A very realistic assesment. My own troubleshooting was
based on the assumption of calm seas and favorable
weather--a risky assumption, at best. |
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