The Silver Lake Reservoir Complex comprises two concrete-lined basins, Ivanhoe Reservoir and Silver Lake, divided by a spillway, in the Silver Lake community of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

History

The lower body of water was named in 1906 for Water Board Commissioner Herman Silver, and in turn lends its name to the neighborhood. The upper body received its name after the 1819

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

novel ''

Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting st ...

''.''Take Sunset'' article:
13 Facts About The Silver Lake Reservoir
. The reservoirs are owned and maintained by the

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021-2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of water per day to more ...

(DWP), and could provide water to 600,000 homes in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

and

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as ...

LADWP The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021-2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of water per day to more ...

press release:
LADWP Begins Refilling the Silver Lake Reservoir
Only the smaller of the two, Ivanhoe, remains online. At capacity, it holds of water. The Silver Lake Reservoir's water resources will be replaced by the Headworks Reservoir, an underground reservoir north of

Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park includes popular attractions such as the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry Museum of the Ameri ...

, slated for completion by December 2017. The reservoir is the focal point of the community and has evolved as a regional recreational resource. It is surrounded by several recreational areas, including a

dog park A dog park is a park for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners. Description Dog parks have varying features, although they typically offer a 4' to 6' fence, separate double-gated ...

on the south, a

nursery school A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...

on the north, and the Silver Lake Recreation Center, which includes a

basketball court In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor sur ...

on the south side of the lake. There is also a walking and jogging path, which stretches around the reservoir. In April 2011, the City of Los Angeles opened up for public use a three-acre passive park on the east side of the lake dubbed the "Silver Lake Meadow," modeled after the

Sheep Meadow Sheep Meadow is a meadow near the southwestern section of Central Park, between West 66th and 69th Streets in Manhattan, New York City. It is adjacent to Central Park Mall to the east, The Ramble and Lake to the north, West Drive to the we ...

in New York's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

. The reservoir was featured in ''Visiting... with

Huell Howser Huell Burnley Howser (October 18, 1945 – January 7, 2013) was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing ''California's Gold'' and his human interest sh ...

'' Episode 1610.

Environmental issues

Ivanhoe Reservoir looking north from southwest corner 2015-10-11

In December 2007, the DWP announced that the Silver Lake and Ivanhoe reservoirs had both become contaminated with unusually high levels of the

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

-causing chemical

bromate The bromate anion, BrO, is a bromine-based oxoanion. A bromate is a chemical compound that contains this ion. Examples of bromates include sodium bromate, (), and potassium bromate, (). Bromates are formed many different ways in municipal drinki ...

, and were immediately isolated.

press release:
Statement on Silver Lake and Elysian Reservoir Bromate Issue
". The reservoirs were both drained over several weeks in March 2008,''

LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' article:
Silver Lake goes dry
. and refilled in May 2008. Two months later, 400,000 black hollow plastic

shade balls Shade balls are small plastic spheres floated on top of a reservoir for environmental reasons, including to slow evaporation and prevent sunlight from causing reactions among chemical compounds present in the water. Also known as bird balls, the ...

were placed in Ivanhoe, which remain in use, to reduce the likelihood of the sunlight-fueled bromate. Silver Lake Reservoir was taken offline permanently.

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

CBS 2 article:
400,000 Balls Get Dumped In Silver Lake Reservoir
".''

'' article:
We are not making this up: Ivanhoe Reservoir in Silver Lake covered in little black plastic balls
" This incident pointed out the necessity of protecting the water supply by using underground tanks. The black plastic balls were created in Allentown, Pennsylvania by Orange Products Inc. The balls are also used at airports to prevent birds from landing in water runoff, thus preventing birds from being drawn into aircraft engines. The balls were certified by NSF International which certifies the safety of food, water, and consumer goods. In February 2013 LADWP contracted with Glendora, California-based manufacturer XavierC LLC to supply an additional 6.4 million hollow plastic shade balls for reservoirs.

Future of The Silver Lake Reservoir Complex

On March 27, 2018, a community-led initiative began to help guide the repurposing of the reservoir complex and surrounding site. The current status of this initiative is the development of a Master Plan that will guide improvements and protection of the reservoirs, and seek to balance its historic character, its use as a community gathering place, its strategic location within the Silver Lake community, and its unique blend of both functional and recreational spaces. The plan was finalized in August 2020 with input from the community and several local stakeholder groups including the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, Silver Lake Reservoirs Conservancy, Silver Lake Forward, Silver Lake Now and Silver Lake Wildlife Sanctuary.

In popular culture

The reservoir appeared in the 2018 movie ''

Under the Silver Lake ''Under the Silver Lake'' is a 2018 American neo-noir black comedy written, produced and directed by David Robert Mitchell. Set in 2011 Los Angeles, it follows a young man (Andrew Garfield) investigating the sudden disappearance of his neighbor ...

'', directed by

David Robert Mitchell David Robert Mitchell (born October 19, 1974) is an American film director and writer. He received significant recognition as a director after completing his second feature, the critically acclaimed horror film '' It Follows'' (2014). Early life ...

References

* * 8. http://info.nsf.org/Certified/PwsComponents/Listings.asp?Company=4G760&Standard=061

External links

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power official website

at Silver Lake.org
Silver Lake Reservoirs Conservancy

Silver Lake Reservoir
at

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