SubscribeIn the increasingly complex world of aviation safety, Euro-Matic Bird Balls are an extremely simple and safe solution to a potentially dangerous hazard - namely large waterfowl and their attraction to open water.
Water collection and storage ponds are constructed near to runways for several reasons; rainwater run-off is typically held in open ponds prior to treatment and river discharge; water storage for fire control systems.
Open ponds located near to airports have always received the unwanted attention of waterfowl. It has been common practise to cover ponds with netting to prevent birds from gaining access to the water. But the fundamental problem with this solution is that netting fails to camouflage the pond, therefore birds are still attracted to the water and a potentially dangerous hazard remains.
In addition, it is extremely difficult to support the netting above a pond and it is vulnerable to winter damage from ice and snow.
Euro-Matic has a simple solution to this problem. A layer of hollow plastic balls called Bird Balls float on top of the water surface. The balls effectively camouflage the liquid surface as can be seen in the photograph below.
Sprout Lane Lagoon, Heathrow Airport c.2005 – Terminal 5 construction can be seen in the background.
How it all began….
Euro-Matic began manufacturing hollow plastic balls for the metal treatment industry in the early 1970’s. Hollow plastic balls proved very effective in reducing heat and evaporative losses from heated water and chemical storage tanks. Balls formed a close packed configuration on the liquid surface, leaving only 9% of the liquid surface visible. The insulating qualities of air held in each ball and the low conductive losses of the plastic resulted in energy savings of up to 75% at higher liquid temperatures.
Many small/medium scale installations were successful in the water treatment industry, but the concept successfully translated into larger scale installations in the early 1990’s with the introduction of the Bird Ball on a pond at Barrick Goldstrike in Nevada, USA.
Gold extracted from ore via a ‘heap leach’ process uses a dilute cyanide solution. The pregnant solution is held in open ponds prior to processing and gold retrieval. Netting had been the only available option to mine operators to prevent bird fatalities but as the net and support structure were regularly damaged by snow, ice & wind, bird fatalities continued.
Solutions can come from the most unusual of places…..
Following another snow storm and the usual damaged netting, Ken Manning, a plant manager at Barrick Goldstrike’s operation in Nevada, was watching his children play in a ball pool of Euro-Matic playpen balls at a McDonald’s indoor play area in Elko.
His simple idea was to use balls to cover the pond surface. Ken spent several weeks making site visits to petrochemical sites using ball covers in the USA in order to gather evidence. His team were convinced this was a viable and long term solution and the first Bird Ball order for 500,000 x 100mm balls was made in 1993. The installation was followed carefully by the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.
In the subsequent decade, tens of millions of Euro-Matic Bird Balls have been supplied to mine sites in USA, Africa and Australia.
T5 Heathrow
Following this success, Euro-Matic began looking for similar applications and markets for Bird Balls. Small scale testing was undertaken at San Francisco and Seattle airports, covering natural open ponds adjacent to runways.
Exhibiting at the Bird Strike Convention in Calgary ensured our exposure to John Allen and the Bird Strike Avoidance Team in the UK. This in turn led to discussions with Heathrow’s T5 engineers planning the construction phase rainwater collection ponds and the long term balancing ponds at Sprout Lane.
Rainwater collection pond from Terminal 5 excavations - Heathrow Airport c.2003
Wind tunnel testing of the Bird Balls at the National Physical Laboratory was considered necessary to see how Bird Balls performed at higher wind speeds. Our heavier water filled Bird Ball were found to have greater stability, ensuring the ball cover remained stable in continuous wind speeds of 45miles per hour.
Euro-Matic supplied 2.3 million water filled Bird Balls in total (some 31 x 40ft high cube containers) to cover both ponds.
Several more recent installations have been commissioned at civil and military airports in the USA and Bird Balls have gained FAA approval.
Bird Balls covering a fire control pond at Montreal Airport c.2005
The Specifications
Euro-Matic Bird Balls are 100 mm diameter hollow plastic balls. Ultra Violet stabilised with a carbon black additive, the balls have an anticipated life expectancy in excess of 15 years in northern European UV levels. They can be made heavier should tolerance to higher wind speeds be necessary.
The heavier water filled Bird Balls have been found to be stable in continuous wind speeds of 45 miles per hour (72 kph), reproduced in a wind tunnel at the National Physical Laboratory.
The Benefits
There are many operational benefits of installing Bird Balls:
- Simple to install – balls are poured from bags onto the liquid surface. They automatically arrange themselves into a close packed formation over the entire liquid surface.
- Maintenance free – the balls are an install and forget solution> anticipated life expectancy in excess of 15 years.
- Proven track record in the USA and UK
- Accommodates changes in liquid level, floating platforms and aerators
- Reduces sunlight penetration, therefore eliminates duckweed and algae growth
- Maintains higher liquid temperatures through the winter
Some recent examples of Bird Ball installations
Johnston County c.2005
Classic, close packed formation of a ball cover – South Jackson c. 2003
