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California Fights Drought With 96 Million "Shade Balls"

Posted by samzenpus on from the get-out-of-the-sun dept.

HughPickens.com writes: Katie Rogers writes in the NY Times that the city of Los Angeles is releasing 96 million plastic "shade balls" into the 175-acre Los Angeles Reservoir to help block sunlight and UV rays that promote algae growth, which would help keep the city's drinking water safe. Officials also say the balls will help slow the rate of evaporation, which drains the water supply of about 300 million gallons a year. The balls cost $0.36 each and are part of a $34.5 million initiative to protect the water supply. Shade balls are the brainchild of Brian White, a biologist with the utility who based the idea on "bird balls" that he observed in waterways near airport runways to prevent airfield bird strikes. The Los Angeles Reservoir, which holds 3.3 billion gallons, or enough water to supply the city for up to three weeks, joins three other reservoirs already covered in the shade balls. "In the midst of California's historic drought, it takes bold ingenuity to maximize my goals for water conservation," says Mayor Eric Garcetti who was at the Los Angeles Reservoir to mark the addition of 20,000 of the small balls to the lake. "This effort by LADWP is emblematic of the kind of the creative thinking we need to meet those challenges."

5 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. black balls by fche · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To the extent the point was to keep heat away from the water, I wonder why they didn't go for something with a high albedo instead of black.

  2. Anaerobic wasteland ? by climb_no_fear · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So if the surface is completely covered with these black ping pong ball like things, doesn't that also reduce oxygen exchange?

    Is there a risk that they just turn the lake into an anoxic wasteland (sulfides are quite toxic) if they do this ?

  3. Bold ingenuity? by Nidi62 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "In the midst of California's historic drought, it takes bold ingenuity to maximize my goals for water conservation," says Mayor Eric Garcetti

    Or you could, you know, tell all those rich idiots who insist on acre-sized green lawns in the middle of the desert "tough luck".

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. Re:Bold ingenuity? by JBMcB · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or you could tell the almond farmers, who use about 10% of the entire water supply, to take a hike.

      Or you could float the price of water and the problem would solve itself within a few months.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    2. Re:Bold ingenuity? by soap_and_dish · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Alfalfa plays a bigger role than almonds and people don't even eat it. It just gets fed to cows, with a notoriously poor food conversion ratio.