As water levels keep dropping, new ways must be found to try and maintain the water we still have. In LA, the latest technique involves releasing millions of back plastic balls into its reservoirs.
The technique isn't actually new, and has already been used in other reservoirs over the past years. But in this LA reservoir alone, we're talking about nearly 100 million "shade balls", which will help block the harmful UV light from reaching the water and reduce evaporation.
This doesn't come cheap - the entire operation costs $35 million - but when you consider that covering up the entire reservoir with any sort of structure to achieve the same goal would cost over $250 millions... it's easy to see why they went with the cheaper and more immediate route.
In any case, and even though they assure us the plastic used is "food safe", if you're taste sensitive to plastic bottled water, you'll now know why your tap water might began tasting a little bit more plasticky. :)
UV light makes water safer, not more dangerous.
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