Officials hope for snow to fill up Lake Tahoe
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:55 am
From the Nevada Appeal:
With Lake Tahoe’s water level nearing the natural rim, water authorities are hoping for record-breaking precipitation to bring the level up.
“We desperately need a big winter and a big snowpack to bring Lake Tahoe back up again,” said Federal Water Master Garry Stone.
When the water in Lake Tahoe nears the natural rim, at 6,223 feet, water flows more slowly into the Truckee River.
At midweek the lake measured 6,223.25. Under normal conditions, the flow into the Truckee is about 250 cubic feet per second. The current rate is about 12 cubic feet per second, Stone said. If the lake level drops below the natural rim no more water will flow into the Truckee.
“We can’t get any more water out of it,” Stone said. “It’s like a bathtub, we do not have the ability to release water through the natural rim.”
The picture of the dam at Lake Tahoe is from last Friday. There is very little water flowing through it into the Truckee River. The dam is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, and was built in 1913 as part of the Newlands Project. The Newlands Project was one of the very first Bureau of Reclamation projects.
Of course, Lake Tahoe is a natural lake; the dam raises the level of the lake six feet, which creates a reservoir on top of the lake of 732,000 acre-feet. The dam also controls releases into the Truckee River.
As the level of the lake drops further, there won’t be any water flowing into the Truckee River. Flows for the river will then be made up from Boca Reservoir; according to the article, there’s enough water in Boca to last through December. The picture on the right is Boca Dam last Friday.
Read the full text of the story from the Nevada Appeal by clicking here. You can find out more about the Newlands Project by clicking here.
Dreaming of a wet winter at Lake Tahoe
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 8:44 amFrom the Tahoe Bonanza:
With Lake Tahoe’s water level nearing the natural rim, water authorities are hoping for record-breaking precipitation to bring the water level up. “We really desperately need a big winter and a big snowpack to bring Lake Tahoe back up again,” said Federal Water Master Garry Stone.
When the water in Lake Tahoe nears the natural rim, which is 6223 feet, water flows less quickly into the Truckee River.
As of Wednesday night the lake measured at 6223.25. Normally there are about 250 cubic feet per second running into the Truckee. Right now the rate is about 12 cubic feet per second, Stone said. If the lake level drops below the natural rim no more water will flow into the Truckee.
“We can’t get any more water out of it,” Stone said. “It’s like a bathtub, we do not have the ability to release water through the natural rim.”
Read more from the Tahoe Bonanza by clicking here.
Common ground, uncommon solutions: Inc. magazine ranks IERS among fastest growing private companies in America
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 25, 2008 at 10:35 pmFrom the Sierra Sun:
In the world of fast-growing companies, environmental research groups tend to be the underdogs fighting for a cause, but as Inc. magazine sees it, Tahoe City’s Integrated Environmental Restoration Services is plotting a different course.
In their second annual list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in America, Inc. ranked Integrated Environmental 365th overall, second among all environmental service companies. The rankings that appeared in Inc.’s September issue are based on the percentage of a company’s revenue growth from 2004 to 2007.
“We feel honored and lucky but it hasn’t validated what we’re about” said Founder Michael Hogan. “We’re about getting work done.”
From their humble beginning of two employees in 1995, Integrated Environmental has grown to employee 22 people who help connect research with practices relating to erosion control and water quality protection in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Read more from Sierra Sun by clicking here.
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency sued over shorezone plan
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 25, 2008 at 6:07 amFrom the Tahoe Daily Tribune:
Conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday, saying they are trying to force environmental review of a shoreline development plan for Lake Tahoe. The suit, filed by the League to Save Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Club, alleges the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency adopted new land-use regulations without thorough consideration of environmental and public access impacts.
However, a TRPA spokesman said extensive environmental analysis was conducted and that the lawsuit has the potential to interfere with programs designed to protect the lake’s environmental health.
The TRPA Governing Board adopted the shorezone ordinance amendments Oct. 22. The amendments govern the use of Lake Tahoe’s lakefront areas by public and private landholders.
“The shorezone ordinance amendment allows an unprecedented level of development along the shoreline and dramatically increases motorized boat traffic at Lake Tahoe,” Carl Young from the League to Save Lake Tahoe said in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “The ordinance fails to remediate for the detrimental water pollution impacts on Lake Tahoe’s famously clear waters.”
Read more from the Tahoe Daily Tribune by clicking here.
Groups sue to force Lake Tahoe shoreline environmental review
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 22, 2008 at 6:10 am
From the Tahoe Daily Tribune:
A coalition of conservation groups filed a lawsuit today in federal district court to force environmental review of a shoreline development plan for Lake Tahoe.
The suit challenges the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency for adopting new land-use regulations without thorough consideration of environmental and public access impacts. The Shorezone Ordinance Amendments were adopted Oct. 22. The amendments govern the use of Lake Tahoe’s lakefront shore areas by public and private landholders.
The new regulations would increase motorized boating, adding more than 62,000 boat trips to current annual boat traffic — increasing noise, water and air pollution; limiting public access; diminishing the scenic quality of the lake; and increasing the threat of introducing such invasive species as the quagga mussel, according to a press statement.
Read more from the Tahoe Tribune by clicking here.
Solar cycles and Sierra weather: Are they related?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 18, 2008 at 6:29 amFrom the Sierra Sun:
It’s November and skiers and snowboarders are biting at the bit to get out on the slopes. Getting enough natural snowfall in November for skiing is often a challenge in the Sierra, but colder temperatures usually give regional resorts an opportunity to pump out an early base with snowmaking equipment.
At the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory near Donner Pass, November storms are important, as they usually produce more than 10 percent of the average yearly totals, with 48 inches of snow and enough rain to total more than six inches of precipitation. On average, about 75 percent of California’s annual precipitation falls between November and March; half occurs between December and February.
When it comes to weather in the West, averages are hard to come by. More often than not, desiccating droughts are broken by heavy winters, when torrential downpours soak the lower elevations and snow falls thick and deep in the High Sierra. The resulting snowmelt invigorates parched rivers, replenishes empty reservoirs, and resuscitates the withered landscape in a natural cycle as old as the West itself.
Drought-busting seasons come along every so often, but after 100 years, the wild winter of 1906-07 continues to reign as the snowiest on record in the Sierra Nevada. The winter of ’07 ranks as the 10th snowiest on Donner Pass, at just over 7,000 feet. But at the higher elevations the snowfall was epic. Powerful Pacific storms that year buried elevations above 8,000 feet with a snowpack that averaged 30-feet deep, and established California’s greatest seasonal snowfall total of 884 inches — more than 73 feet!
Read more from the Sierra Sun by clicking here.
New Tahoe Maritime Museum open
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 9, 2008 at 5:59 amFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
Some of the biggest artifacts in Tahoe maritime history are at the bottom of the lake. Three classic steamers, including the 169-foot Tahoe, were scuttled in the early 1900s when they had outlived their usefulness, taking their secrets into the depths of North America’s second deepest lake.
Fortunately for history and boating devotees, not all the great boats of Tahoe’s past are on the lake bottom. Many of them (notably smaller than the grand 19th century steamboats) have been collected at the Tahoe Maritime Museum, which recently opened a new facility. The 5,800-square-foot museum documents boating history on the lake - with emphasis on wooden recreational craft and racers - through artifact exhibits, audiovisual displays and an array of restored boats. The museum opened in May in the lakeside community of Homewood.
Visitors walking into the museum first come face-to-face with one of the gems of the collection, the Godfather, a 1922, 26-foot Chris-Craft. The sleek, wooden-hulled boat is powered by a converted aircraft engine and, according to Nicole Cheslock, the museum’s director of education and outreach, it is the earliest known Chris-Craft model and the oldest working Chris-Craft in existence. Nearby, Miss Tessa, a 1930, 17-foot Dodge runabout, sports a gleaming sea nymph figurehead on its wooden bow. The tiny mermaidlike figure made of nickel was attached to every Dodge boat made after 1930.
Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Water woes: Truckee River will dry up between Tahoe City & Boca Dam this year
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 1, 2008 at 6:38 amFrom the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, this commentary by fisherman Bruce Ajari, who notes that the Watermaster and the recently approved Truckee River Operating Agreement seems to have changed the timing of the release of water into the river, with water being released much earlier in the year than before:
In prior years Lake Tahoe was the water of last resort and we would not have been running it out so early in the season as we did this year. What this policy does is that it sacrifices the entire section of River between Tahoe City and to nearly Boca where the outflow of the Little Truckee River enters into the main Truckee River.
While this policy may not be bad in normal water years, in a drought scenario as we are experiencing now, we should be releasing more water out of the other reservoirs first and then the water at Lake Tahoe. This would help keep the section between Tahoe City and Truckee by maintaining some sort of reasonable flow for a much longer period of time, thus helping our local fishery.
It really saddens me to see the low flows in this section of river, knowing that the lake will soon drop below its rim and the Truckee will virtually dry up between Tahoe City and Truckee. The fishery will take a big hit with the loss of both fish and other aquatic life.
The river is an important part of our existence. It provides us with some tremendous recreational opportunities which are a very important part of our local economy. We should strive to maintain a better balance in our most precious resource which is water. A simple management policy releasing less water in the spring and summer months from Lake Tahoe I feel would have spared the fishery from the major concern that we are having now.
Tahoe planning agency’s rules make it tough to add pier
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 27, 2008 at 6:01 amFrom the Sacramento Bee:
Shoreline property owners who have been waiting more than 20 years for regulators’ permission to build a pier on Lake Tahoe aren’t exactly buoyed by a recent decision to lift the boating structures ban. That’s because the new Tahoe Regional Planning Agency rules adopted last week come weighted with enough restrictions to sink a pier plan before the first piling is driven.
The permit process for piers, all designed to protect the lake’s beauty, can take years longer than that for building a lakefront home, according to consultants for lakefront owners who had property in the few areas where piers have been allowed. The fees paid to consultants and attorneys who many use to navigate the regulatory maze can rival the cost of building the pier.
To win a pier permit, lakefront owners have had to re-roof a neighbor’s home in earth-tone colors, plant trees to hide the home from sightseers and even change the exterior paneling on the house to better blend with the forest and sapphire lake.
“When you start to look at what the new TRPA rules really mean, you’ll see that almost no one will be enticed to build a pier,” said Jan Brisco, executive director of the Tahoe Lakefront Property Owners Association.
Read the rest of this story from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency OK’s shorezone program allowing 128 new piers and 1,862 buoys over the next 20 years
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 23, 2008 at 7:36 amFrom the Tahoe Daily Tribune:
After more than two decades of debate and more than eight hours of discussion by regulators on Wednesday, Lake Tahoe has a new set of rules regulating development of the area near its shoreline.
By an 8-5 vote, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Governing Board approved Lake Tahoe’s first comprehensive shorezone program since 1987. The decision left two of the most divergent interest groups in the debate — conservation organizations and the Tahoe Lakefront Owners’ Association — disappointed.
Representatives from each side said they would be looking at their “options” to appeal the decision following Wednesday’s meeting. Potential lawsuits stemming from adoption the shorezone program were a frequent topic of discussion at the meeting.
Two lawyers from Earth Justice, the legal arm of the Sierra Club, spoke on behalf of the Tahoe Area Sierra Club and the League to Save Lake Tahoe.
One of the lawyers, Wendy Park, said the shorezone program’s environmental impact statement fails to assess the program’s true impacts on Lake Tahoe’s shoreline. Mitigation measures in the statement are also “un-formulated and undefined,” Park said.
While the details still need to be examined, the possibility of a lawsuit arising from adoption of the shorezone program is “likely,” said Trent Orr, the second lawyer from Earth Justice.
The shorezone program will allow the construction of 128 new piers and 1,862 buoys to be placed along Lake Tahoe’s shoreline over the next 20 years. Read more from the Tahoe Daily Tribune by clicking here.
Reno Gazette Journal: Water supplies need wet winter; “We will be entirely dependent on a good winter this year”
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 13, 2008 at 7:52 amFrom the Reno Gazette Journal:
From his office in Tahoe City, Ryan Hastings looks down to where Lake Tahoe flows into the channel of the Truckee River. These days, that flow has diminished to not much more than a trickle. “Everything you see down there is normally under water,” Hastings said. “It’s dropped every day. It’s a little lower every day.”
Unless this fall produces an unusual spate of wet weather, Lake Tahoe should drop below its natural rim by early December. The Truckee River will then be cut off from its largest supply of water. It’s the result of back-to-back lackluster winters that left a skimpy mountain snowpack, with runoff into Lake Tahoe at 30 percent of normal both years.
That makes the coming winter of critical importance, experts said. “This winter is everything,” said Chad Blanchard, chief deputy in the federal water master’s office in Reno.
“It’s getting real hard to sugar-coat things,” agreed Bill Hauck, water supply coordinator for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority. “We will be entirely dependent on a good winter this year.”
Read more from the Reno Gazette Journal by clicking here.
Schwarzenegger travels to Truckee to announce Sierra conservation partnership
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 9, 2008 at 7:55 amFrom the Sierra Sun:
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger strode along the shoreline of Donner Lake Wednesday morning, stepped up to a microphone in front of a small crowd and delivered good news for the Sierra Nevada.
Surrounded by environmental leaders from Truckee, Nevada and Placer counties, Schwarzenegger told a small crowd that a partnership of private donors has put up $25 million for conservation efforts in the northern Sierra Nevada.
The money, which officials hope will grow to $100 million in private funds matched by up to $400 million in public dollars, will finance a broad effort to buy, or otherwise preserve, 100,000 acres of private property, and help the mountain range face the looming threat of climate change.
“Future generations from far and wide will come and enjoy the Sierra Nevada just the way it is today,” said Schwarzenegger. “While we are faced with great challenges today — economic challenges, simultaneously we should not lose sight of long-lasting issues like protecting the environment.”
Detailed coverage from the Sierra Sun by clicking here.
More from the Sacramento Bee:
Historically, the northern Sierra, from south of Lake Tahoe to Lassen Volcanic National Park, has not garnered as much conservation attention as other parts of the range. Yet rapid population growth and the spread of second homes, golf courses, resorts and other development are putting pressure on the area’s wildlife, watersheds and working ranches.
Besides trying to safeguard open space and ranch land from development, the partnership plans to devote more attention to climate change. “The West, more so than any other region in the continent outside the Arctic, will face the most profound impacts from climate change – and we clearly have already seen them here in the high Sierra,” Rhea Suh, conservation and science program officer for the Packard foundation, told the group.
In the Sierra, researchers have tied climate change to a wide range of impacts, including a diminishing snowpack, catastrophic wildfire, receding glaciers and retreat of small mammals upslope.
More from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
Tahoe mussel worries on rise
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 6, 2008 at 6:23 am
From the Reno Gazette Journal:
Discovery of invasive mussels in a set of high-elevation Colorado lakes is diminishing confidence that Lake Tahoe could be immune from invasion.
Quagga and zebra mussel larvae were discovered at Lake Granby this summer and have now been found in two other reservoirs connected to the lake, said Steve Chilton, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Granby was probably at less risk than we are. If they can establish themselves at that lake, they can certainly do so at Lake Tahoe,” Chilton said.
Zebra and quagga mussels are close cousins native to Eurasia, believed to have been introduced to the United States through the ballast of oceangoing ships. They were first discovered in the Great Lakes in the late 1980s and have since proliferated widely in that region.
Their westward migration reached Nevada in January 2007, when quagga mussels were found in Lake Mead. They have since spread, probably as stowaways aboard pleasure boats, to several other bodies of water in Southern Nevada and Southern California, while zebra mussels were recently discovered in a Northern California reservoir only 250 miles from Lake Tahoe.
Read more from the Reno Gazette-Journal by clicking here.
Warming impact: Study looks at climate change and Tahoe; Changes could impact wildlife, clarity, carbon storage
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 30, 2008 at 8:37 amFrom the Sierra Sun:
The effects of a changing climate are appearing in Lake Tahoe.
UC Davis researchers last week published the first evidence that a warming climate is impacting microscopic plant life in Tahoe — the foundation of the ecosystem in the lake. If the changes continue, the effects could reverberate up the food chain to fish, birds, and land animals dependent on the species below them.
“This will definitely have an effect on zooplankton and fish species,” said Monika Winder, research associate at the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, and the study’s lead author. “And it may indirectly effect water clarity and carbon cycling.”
What the researchers looked at were diatoms — single-celled plants that both feed the aquatic food chain and store a substantial amount of carbon, Winder said.
And what they found was as the water warms, the difference in density increases, so less mixing of the lake occurs, Winder said.
Read more from the Sierra Sun by clicking here.
Tahoe regulators toughen boat inspection rules
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 25, 2008 at 6:33 amFrom the Reno Gazette Journal:
Characterizing the threat as dire, Lake Tahoe land-use regulators Wednesday strengthened a program to prevent an invasion of foreign mussels.
Governors of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency approved regulations requiring boat ramps and launches around Tahoe be closed when qualified inspectors are not available to ensure vessels are clean. The mandatory inspection program also requires that boats that inspectors suspect are infested with mussels or other aquatic invaders be decontaminated, with civil penalties possible.
Quagga mussels are overrunning Lake Mead and other bodies of water in Southern Nevada and Southern California. Zebra mussels were recently discovered in a Northern California reservoir only 250 miles from Lake Tahoe. “It can happen here,” warned Steve Chilton of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, citing the summer discovery of juvenile quagga mussels in a high altitude lake in Colorado.
Boaters, environmentalists and officials from several agencies urged TRPA to consider the threat as potentially extreme. Mussels could disrupt the lake’s sensitive ecosystem, water intakes be clogged, boats damaged and pristine beaches become layered with shells.
“You’ve got to do this and do this soon,” Tahoe boater Roger Rosenberger said of tougher regulations. “The cost of failure is way too high.”
Read more from the Reno Gazette Journal by clicking here.
Lake Tahoe’s level dips toward its natural rim
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 25, 2008 at 6:03 am
From the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza:
Heading into fall, Lake Tahoe and other area lakes and reservoirs are dipping, and may leave the Truckee River a comparative trickle before snow recharges the water supply again.
Two slow winters in a row — feeding 31 percent and 32 percent of normal runoff into Tahoe — mean the lake could drop below its natural rim unless precipitation shows up this fall. This means the top of the Truckee River could go dry, and other water stores will have to be leaned on more heavily to supply the Reno/Sparks area.
“At this point it looks like we will get very close to Tahoe’s natural rim,” said Chad Blanchard, chief hydrologist for the U.S. District Court Water Masters Office.
Currently the lake is at 6223.80, within 8 inches of the natural rim and down to just 15 percent of the dam’s total storage capacity, he said.
“As the lake drops, the amount going over the dam drops and the amount going down river drops, so we have to supplement that with others. We’re using Boca right now,” Blanchard said. “By the end of the year Boca could be very low also.” Bill Hauck, the water supply coordinator for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, said Boca Reservoir could empty to 5 percent of its top capacity.
Read more from the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza by clicking here.
Lake Tahoe boat ramps may be closed when quagga inspectors are not present
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 21, 2008 at 3:43 pmFrom the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza:
A proposal by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to require Lake Tahoe’s boat ramps to close in the absence of invasive species inspectors is headed to a vote this week. On Wednesday, the TRPA’s Governing Board is scheduled to decide on the new code, which would also require boat owners to get a TRPA-approved boat decontamination if it is deemed necessary by an inspector.
Limiting boat access during early morning and late evening hours, the cost of inspections, the infrastructure necessary to implement the potential closures, and a loss of revenue from ramp closures are concerns surrounding the potential new regulations.
TRPA staff met with boat ramp operators this month in an attempt to resolve such concerns and an implementation plan for potential closures will be presented at Wednesday’s meeting, according to the meeting’s agenda. If the code changes pass, implementation could “occur very quickly,” according to a TRPA letter sent to boat ramp operators last month.
“For this reason we need your input and assistance to make certain we have an implementation strategy that is flexible enough to address the needs of the boating community,” indicates the letter. “Our focus here is to ensure every boat entering the lake is inspected — not to close ramps and limit public access.”
Read more from the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza by clicking here.
Waiting for winter; Lake Tahoe levels dropping fast this fall
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 20, 2008 at 6:52 amFrom the Sierra Sun:
Heading into fall Lake Tahoe and other area lakes and reservoirs are dipping, and may leave the Truckee River a comparative trickle before snow recharges the water supply again.
Two slow winters in a row — feeding 31 percent and 32 percent of normal runoff into Tahoe — mean the lake could drop below its natural rim unless precipitation shows up this fall. This means the top of the Truckee River could go dry, and other water stores will have to be leaned on more heavily to supply the Reno/Sparks area. “At this point it looks like we will get very close to Tahoe’s natural rim,” said Chad Blanchard, chief hydrologist for the U.S. District Court Water Masters Office.
Currently the lake is within 11 inches of the natural rim, down to just 15 percent of the dam’s total storage capacity, he said. “As the lake drops the amount going over the dam drops and the amount going down river drops, so we have to supplement that with others. We’re using Boca right now,” Blanchard said. “By the end of the year Boca could be very low also.”
Bill Hauck, the water supply coordinator for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, said Boca could empty to 5 percent of its top capacity. Prosser Lake will dip down to about one-third its total capacity, and Stampede will be about half its normal volume, Blanchard said.
Read more from the Sierra Sun by clicking here.
National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act turns 40 as more rivers are considered for protection
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 20, 2008 at 6:30 amFrom the Union-Democrat:
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
More than a dozen area river forks have been studied and determined to have values worthy of the act’s protection, but only the free-flowing Clavey River is being pursued. Voices pushing to protect the rushing waters of eligible rivers, like the Clark Fork of the Stanislaus River and the North Fork of the Mokelumne River, are silent.
The act does protect 11,000 miles of 165 rivers in 38 states from being dammed. A bill introduced by Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, and Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, proposes to protect an additional 74 miles of rivers and streams in the eastern Sierra, White Mountains, Mojave Desert and San Gabriel Mountains. Besides restricting dams, the act protects water and public land a quarter-mile on both sides of the river.
The Tuolumne River is protected from its headwaters on Mount Dana and Mount Lyell in Yosemite National Park for 83 miles until its waters run into Don Pedro Reservoir. In 1987, the Merced River was protected for 79 miles, stretching from Mount Lyell to the river’s confluence with Bear Creek. The South Fork of the Merced River was protected from its source at Triple Divide Peak in Yosemite to its confluence with the main stem, 43-miles downstream. In 1990, the river was further protected from Bear Creek eight miles downstream to Lake McClure.
“To have the Tuolumne and Merced protected gives the river systems in the area tremendous credibility,” Wendt said, adding that people come from across the United States to run the rivers.
The act benefits local residents most, though, said Patrick Koepele, deputy executive director of the Tuolumne River Trust. “The county and the foothills would be losing out on a serious recreational resource,” Koepele said of previous proposals to dam the Tuolumne River.
Read more from the Union-Democrat by clicking here.
Low water warning for Lake Tahoe
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 10, 2008 at 6:43 amFrom the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza:
As Lake Tahoe sinks toward its natural rim, area boat ramps are closing due to the low water level. The boat ramps in Kings Beach and Tahoe Vista closed after Labor Day, and the Sand Harbor boat ramp plans to close Monday, Sept. 15.
“I wanted to get past this peak season before we close the ramp, but we are seeing people get stuck out there,” said Jay Howard, superintendent of Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park, which includes the Sand Harbor facility.
The lake level dropped rapidly over the Labor Day weekend:
High winds during the Labor Day weekend rapidly lowered the lake, according to Chad Blanchard, chief deputy water master in the federal Water Master’s office. Lake Tahoe dropped 18/100s of a foot over four days that weekend, he said.
Tuesday’s lake level of 6224.04 elevation feet is only a foot above the natural rim, which was last recorded in January 2005. Depending on weather conditions, Blanchard expects Tahoe to be at its natural rim again in late November or December this year.
Lake Tahoe has a 6.1-foot reservoir on top of its natural rim, which supplies downstream water. Already, the gates at the Lake Tahoe Dam in Tahoe City are wide open, and as the lake level lowers, water flowing into the river will have to be augmented by releases from Prosser and Boca reservoirs. Boca Reservoir is at 31,000 acre feet right now, but once it drops to 29,000 acre feet, that boat ramp will be dry as well, Blanchard said.
Read more from the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza by clicking here.
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