Trying to reduce water evaporation - need help on pool covers

[BJcsir]

Hi all

I'm new here, and I'm new to pools.

Having recently moved into a rental home in Cape Town (South Africa) with a pool, I've discovered that we're running out of water in the pool (4m x 10m x ~1.5m) fairly quickly, like maybe 1cm every week?

Cape Town is currently experiencing water restrictions (so it's difficult to top up a pool using municipal water).

I have a yellow tarp that the landlord calls a "pool cover" but I have my doubts as to its effectiveness or its qualifications as a proper "pool cover" (I might be wrong though).

My main concerns are that when I cover the pool (as evenly as I can), it drapes in the middle over the pool water, making contact, and puddles of water are appearing on top of the tarp.

My naive guess is that there shouldn't be water getting through the tarp but there's a part of me thinking maybe this is normal with other pool covers and it's by design (for some reason that escapes my understanding)?

So if I have to phrase this as a question, here you go:

[*] does a generic plastic sheet / tarp serve any useful purpose in preventing evaporation?
[*] should the sheet be in as little contact as possible with the water surface?
[*] is it normal to have significant puddles of water forming on top of the plastic sheet?

I have included a photo here for anyone that wants to see a little bit more of what I mean ... sorry it's a bit dim during dusk here ...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SaXQ2pj1cPfTizmL9

I would sincerely appreciate any guidance or advice on the situation I'm experiencing with the existing "pool cover" and whether this is perfectly normal or if I should be considering something else? We have only started using the pool cover as of two days ago so it's too soon to tell what impact it's having on the water evaporation but I can't really afford to lose much more water before the water level drops below the skimmer space (I think that's what you call it).

[Teapot]

Any plastic sheet prevents evaporation but the real pool covers are easier to use and won't generally allow puddles which of course will evaporate to be replaced by more water which will evaporate.

SA has good pool shops and keen prices but this is the sort of thing to go for.
https://www.poolwarehouse.uk.com/index. ... dHEALw_wcB

[saradanyal]

Hi, covering your pool is the best option for preventing water evaporation. It may be because of your quality of the pool cover. Make sure you have the right and the good quality pool covers. Mine is from Sydney City Pool Covers and is working perfectly fine