For months, the homes surrounding the Silver Lake Reservoir have had their idyllic lakeside views replaced with a dusty pit of dirt. Construction on a new underground reservoir has temporarily taken away Silver Lake's beloved body of water (which has now been decommissioned as a source of drinking water). Those brave souls living near the reservoir have endured a lot this past year, and have been chomping at the bit to get their water back later this year.
Turns out, that might not be happening. Water is too scarce for state officials to give up 400 million gallons of drinking water to a Silver Lake water feature. And though they may protest, the epic California drought fears no neighborhood council.
Alright, so Silver Lake is getting a raw deal, but lets face facts. Water is SO 2015. Rather than lobby for a scarce resource, how about Silver Lake gets a little creative with what exactly they use to fill the reservoir? Curbed LA is here to take a stab at some armchair city planning. Here are a few non-liquid ways to refill the Silver Lake Reservoir.
Ball Pit
This was sort of done already in 2008, albeit in a totally scientific (read: boring) way when the Ivanhoe Reservoir was filled with 400,000 black plastic shade balls to protect the drinking water from the sun. Though it served an important purpose, that big black ball pit was kept from public use by government bureaucrats worried about "drowning" and "contaminating the water supply." Ugh, the government never lets us have any fun.
That won't be the case with this Silver Lake ball pit makeover. We're talking rainbow colors; slides; and millions of germy, decommissioned plastic balls obtained from Chuck E. Cheese locations all over the state. Hop in!
Sand
What's more drought friendly than sand? It's pretty much the exact opposite of water when you think about it. And honestly, when it comes to the beachgoing experience, sand really does most of the heavy lifting. Who needs all that salty water when you have volleyball, sand castles, and burning hot feet?
So forget all that "Expo Line to the Pacific Ocean" jazz. Silver Lake could have a beach of its own!
NFL Stadium
After years of planning, why throw out perfectly good football stadium plans just because there doesn't happen to be an NFL franchise available to use it? Things change, the NFL is fickle, and one never knows when a team on the move might come calling again. Dust off those Farmers Field plans already!
Silver Lake homeowners might decry the traffic and lack of parking on those handful of Sundays the stadium's in use, but we suggest they just pipe down, drag a cooler up the the top of the hill, and watch a slightly obscured view of the game below.
Skate Park
This year, Echo Park announced it's turning a long-closed, freeway-adjacent public pool into a brand new skate park. Why let them have all the glory? Silver Lake can show them up by building their own skate park, 50 times the size! The banked walls of the reservoir are practically half pipes already.
Loose Change
No matter what Silver Lake decides to do with its reservoir, the process will no doubt get swept up in red tape, competing designs, lobbying, fundraising, protests, etc. What a money pit, right?
So, why not use the reservoir as a literal money pit?
In this scenario, think of the Silver Lake Reservoir as a giant change jar. Coming home from the store with a bit of loose change in your pocket? Chuck it in the reservoir! Those dimes and nickels add up, and before you know it, Silver Lake can truck on over to the Coinstar and redeem all that money for a brand new lake ... or an Amazon gift card.
Loading comments...