The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power released black plastic balls into the Los Angeles Reservoir for months that float on the water’s surface, according to a recent article in The Huffington Post. The last installment of shade balls went into the reservoir last week.

The shade balls stop the evaporation of water and are estimated to protect more than 300 million gallons of water. In total, over the last few months 96 million of them have been dumped into the reservoir.

This is just another example of California’s efforts to fight the heavy drought conditions it’s facing. To learn more about water conservation, visit our Drinktap page on that subject.