Early this week YouTube said to me, “Here’s a video you might like.” Maybe you will too.

Crazy as it looks, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is happy with the results since they covered their reservoir with 96 million black balls.

LADWP calls them “shade balls” but they used to be called “bird balls.” Yet there’s not a bird in sight. This 12-minute video from Veritasium explains it.

I’ve never seen shade balls in Pittsburgh but I can think of several reasons why:

• We have much less sun. (fewer sun-induced chemical reactions)
• Our climate is humid. (less evaporation)
• Bromates are not the big problem here. (Alas, in Pittsburgh our problem is lead.)

But perhaps I’m missing something. Have you seen shade balls in Pittsburgh? Let me know.

(video from Veritasium on YouTube)