LOS ANGELES, CA - The city of angels is trying something a little different to conserve water, and it involves about 96 million plastic balls.
Shade balls, which are about four inches around each and help to keep water from evaporating in the Southern California heat, now float along all 175 acres of the Los Angeles Reservoir, according to an ABC report.
“By reducing evaporation, these shade balls will conserve 300 million gallons of water each year,” Mayor Eric Garcetti told ABC station KABC. “Instead of just evaporating into the sky, that’s 300 million gallons to fight this drought.”
To see the environmentally-friendly dumping, watch the video below.
Each ball cost the city 36 cents, coming out to about $34.5 million. Significantly less than the city’s initially estimated $300 million to cover the water source, or to divide it into two by separating it with a dam, according to what officials told ABC.
“This is a blend of how engineering really meets common sense,” Marcie Edwards, general manager at LADWP, said, according to the report. “We saved a lot of money, we did all the right things.”
#shadeballs. Drink up #LosAngeles. pic.twitter.com/XxLm8zgN1Y
— Stuart Reynolds (@stuz5000) August 12, 2015The last 20,000 of the 96 million shade balls rolled into the reservoir Monday, according to the report, on Mayor Garcetti’s announcement of “shade balls away!” They can be removed and recycled when they expire in about ten years, simply and inexpensively guarding the reservoir’s 3.3 billion gallons of water.
