World renowned for its crystal clear, azure water, Lake Tahoe
straddles the Nevada-California border. However, the lake’s
clarity has declined in the last 40 years due to accumulated
effects of development.
At 1,645 feet, Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the
United States and the 10th deepest in the world. Lake Tahoe sits
6,225 feet above sea level, and is 22 miles long and 12 miles
wide.
Approximately 40 percent of the Tahoe Basin’s rain and snow fall
directly into the lake, contributing to Lake Tahoe’s legendary
clarity. The remaining precipitation drains through granitic
soils, which are relatively sterile and create a good filtering
system.
The lake’s vitality is threatened by several factors
including invasive species (trout and bass), stormwater
runoff and increasing temperatures as a part of ongoing climate
change. Meanwhile, drought conditions have led the lake to be the
driest it has been in a century.
Several miles of century-old lead-lined telephone cables laid
along the bottom of Lake Tahoe, feared by many locals to have
leached toxic chemicals into the water, have been removed. News
of the removal came Thursday afternoon from the League to Save
Lake Tahoe, a nonprofit conservation group that helped
coordinate the effort in partnership with telecommunications
giant AT&T, which is believed to have owned the cables in
question.
The South Tahoe Public Utilities Department (STPUD) held a
stakeholders advisory group and public information meeting
regarding how they deal with recycled water. The plan is open
for comment from October 24 to November 11. STPUD was
established in 1950 to provide drinking water and provide
sewage collection, treatment, and export for the South Tahoe
community. Since California has limited water supplies, the
entire state has recycled wastewater for decades through
chemical and microbiological treatment. STPUD is no different
and currently recycles 100% of its wastewater. Because of
the Porter Cologne Act, which protects water quality and water
use in the state, the STPUD began exporting its wastewater to
facilities in Alpine County in 1967, a response to
environmentally protect the watershed of Lake Tahoe. Since
then, STPUD has worked with Alpine County and Harvey Place
Reservoir to store and distribute wastewater—a costly endeavor,
as the water must be pumped over 26 miles over major elevation
changes.
Lake Tahoe — the largest freshwater alpine lake in
North America — is world-famous for its clear blue water, but
the lake faces a multitude of threats requiring constant care
and vigilance to keep it that way. “We’re more than a bumper
sticker,” said Laura Patten, the Natural Resource Director at
the League to Save Lake Tahoe, better known as Keep Tahoe Blue.
“We really rely on the science to figure out what is happening
in the lake.” Patten and other scientists studying Lake Tahoe
say climate change and recreation pose the biggest threats to
the lake in the 21st century. Longer and hotter periods of
heat, more extreme fire seasons, and erratic precipitation
patterns in the winter all play a part in Tahoe’s water
quality. … It’s important to understand Tahoe’s crystal
“blue” water is actually clear. The clear water reflects the
blue sky and absorbs red light, making the water appear
brilliant hues of blue. The clearer the water — or the better
the water’s quality — the bluer the lake.
As temperatures rise, particularly in alpine
regions, lakes are feeling the
heat. Research published in the
journal Science, led by researchers at the
Carnegie Institution for Science, indicates that
climate change impacts critical winter
processes including lake ice conditions.
Changes in lake ice conditions impact the
function of ecosystems and the communities that live nearby.
With climate affecting this critical winter process one can
ask, what other critical changes to freshwaters might occur
from changing winters whether at Lake Tahoe, or the
small lakes and streams in the mountains of
California and Nevada? … There are many ways climate
change can and will impact western alpine lakes. Changing
snowpack and winter conditions can extend plant growing seasons
for lakes in the summer, increasing the
opportunities for invasive species to take hold within
a lake or expand their range.
On average, more than 60 percent of
California’s developed water supply originates in the Sierra
Nevada and the southern spur of the Cascade Range. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
This tour ventured into the Sierra to examine water issues
that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts downstream and
throughout the state.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply
originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
We headed into the foothills and the mountains to examine
water issues that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts
downstream and throughout the state.
GEI (Tour Starting Point)
2868 Prospect Park Dr.
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670.
Lake
Tahoe, the iconic high Sierra water body that straddles
California and Nevada, has sat for more than 10,000 years at the
heart of the Washoe tribe’s territory. In fact, the name Tahoe
came from the tribal word dá’aw, meaning lake.
The lake’s English name was the source of debate for about 100
years after it was first “discovered” in 1844 by people of
European descent when Gen. John C. Fremont’s expedition made its
way into the region. Not long after, a man who carried mail on
snowshoes from Placerville to Nevada City named it Lake Bigler in
honor of John Bigler, who served as California’s third governor.
But because Bigler was an ardent secessionist, the federal
Interior Department during the Civil War introduced the name
Tahoe in 1862. Meanwhile, California kept it as Lake Bigler and
didn’t officially recognize the name as Lake Tahoe until 1945.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply
originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
This beautiful 24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Nevada Water provides an
overview of the history of water development and use in Nevada.
It includes sections on Nevada’s water rights laws, the history
of the Truckee and Carson rivers, water supplies for the Las
Vegas area, groundwater, water quality, environmental issues and
today’s water supply challenges.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36-inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
Lake Tahoe is one of the world’s most beautiful yet vulnerable
lakes. Renowned for its remarkable clarity, Tahoe straddles the
Nevada-California border, stretching 22 miles long and 12 miles
wide in a granitic bowl high in the Sierra Nevada.
Tahoe sits 6,225 feet above sea level. Its deepest point is 1,645
feet, making it the second-deepest lake in the nation, after
Oregon’s Crater Lake, and the tenth deepest in the world.
Lake Tahoe is one of the Sierra Nevada’s crown jewels, renowned
for its breathtaking clarity. The high-altitude, clear blue lake
and its surrounding basin, which lie on the California-Nevada
state line, is a spectacular natural resource that provides
environmental, economic, recreational and aesthetic benefits.
