Composition and method for suppressing water evaporation and heat loss

An aqueous dispersion to retard the rate of water loss and/or heat loss from a body of water, the dispersion consisting essentially of:

• a polyoxyalkylene ether having the general structure of
• R—R′nOH
• wherein R is an alkyl group or mixture of alkyl groups having a carbon chain length that ranges from C8 to C14;
• R′ is an alkylene oxide group;
• n is the average number of alkylene units, and n ranges from 1 to 5;
• wherein the polyoxyalkylene ether comprises from greater than 1% to about 90% by weight of the composition;
• an aqueous solvent;
• and
• from about 0.001% to about 10% of a viscosity modifying/yield agent, the viscosity modifying/yield agent being added in a quantity sufficient to stabilize the composition as an aqueous dispersion, the viscosity modifying/yield agent is chosen from the group consisting of acrylate/alkyl crosspolymers, homopolymers and/or copolymers of acrylic acid crosslinked with a polyalkyenyl polyether, carageenans, methyl cellulose, hydroxymethyl cellulose, and carboxymethyl cellulose, pectin, dextrans, starch, gum tragacanth, gum Arabic, guar gum, acacia gum, gum karaya, silica, and diatomaceous earth.