California Fights Drought With 96 Million "Shade Balls"

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."

Comments

Re:black balls

[pla]

Why limit ourselves to only one color? Make a bicolored ball, slightly heavier on the black side. There you go, efficient at blocking heat during the day but also efficient at allowing the water to radiate it away at night.

I think, though, the first response to this thread nailed it - They chose black for the same reason power, phone, cable, and virtually every other type of exterior grade wiring comes primarily in black - UV resistance. Probably not a good idea to put 96 million rapidly deteriorating sources of pollution into a reservoir. :)

Re:black balls

[jcwayne]

Finally, the elusive step 3.