In January 2022, investigative journalists Christo Grozev and Maria Pevchikh came up with a plan that they called Secret Project Silver Lake, while walking around the reservoir.

[5] In December 2007, the DWP announced that the Silver Lake and Ivanhoe reservoirs had both become contaminated with unusually high levels of the cancer-causing chemical bromate, and were immediately isolated.

[3] In June 2008, 400,000 black hollow plastic shade balls were placed in Ivanhoe, which remain in use, to reduce the likelihood of the sunlight-fueled bromate.

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.

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.