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| Balls Overrun Reservoir |
Ivanhoe Reservoir, the smaller sibling of the Silver Lake Reservoir in Silver Lake, California, had the small problem of sunlight causing the water and chemicals in it to become carcinogenic. The water reservoir is an important cog in the drinking water of the region and, generally, anything carcinogenic isn't good for drinking.
The problem occurred when sunlight heated the bromide and chlorine in the water, forming the carcinogen bromate. Bromide is naturally found in groundwater and chlorine is added to kill bacteria. Both are harmless on their own but sunlight hitting them causes a potentially lethal reaction.
Officials say that the dangers were minimal but that stopping it was still in the public's general interest. Bromate cause a cancer risk only after being consumer daily over a lifetime.
At 58-million gallons, the 10-acre, 102-year old reservoir servers 600,000 customers in South Los Angeles. To protect the public, the California Department of Water and Power turned to the Bird Ball Floating Cover System.
Bird Balls are essentially floating plastic balls that arrange themselves into closely packed formations on the surface of water, effectively covering 91% of the water. By doing this, they cut off the sunlight that can reach the water, stopping the reaction that causes bromate.
Department of Water and Power officials oversaw the introduction of 400,000 Bird Balls into a cordoned off area of the Ivanhoe Reservoir and plan to up that number to three million balls in the following years.
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