Millions of ‘Shade Balls’ to Prevent Evaporation in Calif. Reservoirs

California officials are getting ballsy about fighting the state’s drought.

Other solutions [for meeting federal water regulations] included splitting the reservoir and installing floating covers that would have cost $300 million.

In addition to the L.A. Reservoir, the Upper Stone, Elysian and Ivanhoe reservoirs in California are also all covered with shade balls.

The city claims that adding the shade balls to the reservoirs has cut water use by 15% in the last two years.

The city has completed a program of covering open-air reservoirs with floating “shade balls” to protect water quality.

There’s a total of 96 million of these black plastic balls which measure about 10 centimetres in diameter and cost just 36 cents each, that’s roughly 23p. What if Los Angeles did their homework on this project (they’d save $15.3 million and save more water). “They took in close to 1 million balls and we’re working with several others including a waste water treatment plant in Southern California”.

So without further ado, let us introduce (Hollywood-esque voiceover optional) the shade balls.

“These “shade balls” act to absorb sunlight, and are specially coated to absorb UV rays”, explains Scott Sutherland, a meteorologist and science writer at The Weather Network. “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”.

Now in most instances, dropping more than $34 million worth of plastic into a large body of water would be frowned upon, but the LA Department of Water and Power says this plastic is made up of high-density polyethylene, so it’s reportedly not harmful if it touches drinking water. But they don’t. Additionally, if “Shade Balls” suppress 300 million gallons from evaporating as is claimed, then Los Angeles must also be evaporating over 14 ft. from reservoir surfaces and experiencing average temperatures of over 90 degrees Fahrenheit annually (U.S. Climate Data says it’s closer to 63.8 degrees).