As droughts become more intense across the western portion of the United States, a solution is needed that is both innovative and practical.

In Los Angeles, there have been ideas put forth such as desalination of sea water, fog catchers, waste water recycling, and even geo-engineering rain. However, the biggest concern at the moment is conserving the remaining water.

Beginning in 2008, Los Angeles implemented “shade balls.” By covering all of their reservoirs with some 96 million floating black plastic balls, Los Angeles is saving more than an estimated 300 million gallons of water annually from evaporation. More information regarding the purpose and mechanics of this process can be found here.