Look at this ingeniously simple way Los Angeles officials are combating California's drought

With California's record-breaking drought well into its fourth year, Los Angeles is getting creative on the (relative) cheap to protect the city's water. Officials released 20,000 shade balls into the Los Angeles Reservoir on Monday, the Los Angeles Daily News reports.

What, you ask, is a shade ball? Basically what it sounds like: a black, plastic ball that, when joined with 19,999 of its buddies, does a pretty good job of protecting the reservoir's precious H2O against everything from dust and rain to evaporation. Also, they look insanely weird being dispensed — take a peek for yourself in the photos, below. Sarah Eberspacher

(Gene Blevins/ZUMA Press/Corbis)

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