In case you didn’t know, the state of California is experiencing a drought. So while its people can help by not wasting water by using it needlessly, Los Angeles is trying to do their own part by releasing a whopping 96 million shade balls into the Los Angeles Reservoir. As you can see in the video above, these are basically black colored balls that can float in water.
How does it help with the drought? By flooding the surface of the reservoir with these shade balls, it helps to block out the sunlight which in turn reduces the amount of water being evaporated, thus conserving the amount of water in the reservoir. According to estimates, it will save about 300 million gallons of water a year.
Due to their color, it has also been suggested that not only will they help prevent evaporation, but at the same time safeguard water quality that might be affected by sunlight. They have also been found to help protect wildlife as well. This is according to Sydney Chase, one of the manufacturers of the shade balls.
“If something were to enter the reservoir such as a deer or animal, they are not challenged or drowned while trying to escape back out of the pond.” Will it be effective? We guess only time will tell, but for now it does look and sound promising.
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