Los Angeles’ city officials have found a peculiar way to battle California’s infamously devastating drought. In order to preserve the Los Angeles reservoir, 96 million “shade balls” have been placed in the 175-acre reservoir. The balls were implemented to cool the water and provide shade. This helps fight the promotion of algae, bacterial growth, and chemical reactions that spread harmful substances. Created by LADWP biologist, Brian White, shade balls were inspired by “bird balls” used to prevent birds in ponds along runways. Shade balls are filled with water, encompassed by black polyethylene so that they do not blow away. Their outer coating resists ultraviolet light and degradation of the material. Costing 36 cents a piece, shade balls
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This unorthodox concept of water conservation has been tested since 2008. Due California’s arid conditions and evaporation trends, shade balls made their first appearance on a large scale in September of 2009. Nearly 3 million black shade balls were released into the Ivanhoe Reservoir in the Silver Lake region of L.A. to combat chemical reactions creating carcinogens.
The plastic shade balls have been studied and proven to reduce evaporation by 85 to 90 percent, saving nearly 300 million gallons of water annually (providing approximately 8,100 L.A. residents with clean drinking water). It has been proven that the shade balls also impede microorganism growth, reducing the other forms of water treatment the existing water in the L.A. reservoir must undergo. This could save the city millions of dollars in water treatment costs over a span of time.
Turning Los Angeles’ reservoirs into massive ball pits has proved to be a groundbreaking method of water management and coping mechanism for California’s severe drought, cutting L.A.’s water use by 15% in the last two years. According to Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti, the effort “is emblematic of the kind of creative thinking we need to meet challenges”. The Los Angeles utility is the first to use shade balls on a large
This unorthodox concept of water conservation has been tested since 2008. Due California’s arid conditions and evaporation trends, shade balls made their first appearance on a large scale in September of 2009. Nearly 3 million black shade balls were released into the Ivanhoe Reservoir in the Silver Lake region of L.A. to combat chemical reactions creating carcinogens.
The plastic shade balls have been studied and proven to reduce evaporation by 85 to 90 percent, saving nearly 300 million gallons of water annually (providing approximately 8,100 L.A. residents with clean drinking water). It has been proven that the shade balls also impede microorganism growth, reducing the other forms of water treatment the existing water in the L.A. reservoir must undergo. This could save the city millions of dollars in water treatment costs over a span of time.
Turning Los Angeles’ reservoirs into massive ball pits has proved to be a groundbreaking method of water management and coping mechanism for California’s severe drought, cutting L.A.’s water use by 15% in the last two years. According to Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti, the effort “is emblematic of the kind of creative thinking we need to meet challenges”. The Los Angeles utility is the first to use shade balls on a large