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The fishermen taking it easy on Lake Houston might never guess what’s out there on the water.

KHOU - TV

Only by boat can you see it.

It is something that looks like a spaceship has crashed in Lake Houston.

That thing in the lake is called a Solar Bee.

And it’s helping clean up Houston’s drinking water.

In fact, about 20 percent of Houston’s drinking water comes from Lake Houston.

A couple of years ago, people started complaining about the taste of the water from this area.

So Houston got 20 of the items.

Beneath the solar panels, under the water, there’s a big fan that basically stirs the water says Dannelle Belhateche with the Houston Public Works Dept. “Well, we’re using solar power to charge a battery, which is then generating electricity to turn a motor.  The motor is lifting water from the bottom of the lake, bringing it up to the top and distributing it across the top of the water.”

In other words, the gizmos circulate water and help keep it fresh by preventing the formation of algae.

Tim Oden with the U.S. Geological Survey calls the device a real-time water quality monitoring station.

And they know it works because the data gathered at these monitoring stations indicates the water’s cleaner.

And nobody’s complaining about the taste says Oden. “It will make the treatment of the water easier and make the water more palatable for the people to enjoy and drink.”

The water’s so much cleaner, the city government says it’s saved about a $500,000 in the last year.

That’s taxpayer money that would have been spent on chemicals cleaning up the water.

Water that’s so important to all of us especially the fisherman.