California officials are getting ballsy about fighting the state’s drought.
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Plus, they’re saving the city a lot of money compared to other alternatives, which included splitting the reservoir with a bisecting dam and installing floating covers that would have cost more than $300 million.
“LA just completed a project at the LA Reservoir to save 300 million gallons of water by deploying shade balls on its surface, saving our city over $250 million dollars while keeping our water clean & safe,”Mayor Eric Garcetti posted on Facebook”.
Shade balls will likely become a permanent fixture atop reservoirs. Bloomberg reported that Ed Osann, a senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that the chances of the shade balls releasing any toxic materials into the water supply are slim.
Officials recently released 96 million floating “shade balls” into the 75-acre Los Angeles Reservoir in Sylmar, California. They are designed to deflect UV rays, making the water potable for human consumption.
Evaporation from the lakes system, which has a surface area of 47,500 hectares, regularly puts pressure on Broken Hill water supplies and creates an imperative to limit irrigation extraction upstream. “This effort by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is emblematic of the kind of the creative thinking we need to meet those challenges”. The City and their manufacturer are claiming that 300 million gallons of water will be saved from evaporation each year but they present absolutely no data to verify those claims.
“As the drought continues, it has never been more important to focus on innovative ways to maintain the highest quality drinking water for our four million residents”, said council member Mitchell Englander.
So without further ado, let us introduce (Hollywood-esque voiceover optional) the shade balls.
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The 175-acre water reservoir was totally covered with small, black plastic balls to prevent sunlight-triggered chemical reactions, deter birds and other wildlife, and protect water from rain and wind-blown dust.
