Barrier for floating pollutants

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It has been found that the leakage of pollutants can be avoided without adding substantially to the complexity of construction.
Specifically, it has been found that a non-attached portion of the skirt, at each joint, can be utilized to form a channel in the skirt that directs the flow of water in such a way so as to prevent the loss of floating pollutants without the necessity of directly sealing the openings.
It was further found that this arrangement also provides a higher first-loss speed.
The present invention provides a barrier for confining floating pollutants comprising: a plurality of buoyant tubular boom sections serially interconnected by a cable passing longitudinally therethrough, a flexible skirt, having an upper edge portion and lower edge portion, means attaching the upper edge portion to the skirt to a lower portion of the boom sections, and defining a non-attached edge portion between boom sections, a lower cable member attached to the lower edge portion of the skirt, said non-attached edge portion of the skirt forming an upwardly oriented channel, operative, with water passing between the booms and non-attached portion of the skirt, to channel water upwardly from below the surface, restricting the passage of floating pollutants.