Water Quality

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These ingredients act as powerful fertilizers, stimulating plants and animals to grow and clouding the water like soup. During the last 50 years, as development increased, so did pollution. Sediment loads grew, nitrogen and phosphorus levels skyrocketed... and algae bloomed. Since monitoring began by Charles Goldman from the University of California, Davis, there has been a steady increase in algal growth in the lake.

This growth almost exactly mimics the decrease in clarity. All the data reinforces a frightening fact: Tahoe is losing 1 1/2 feet of clarity every year... and if nothing is done to reverse this trend, Tahoe will become a turbid, ordinary lake in a single generation.

Who's working on Tahoe's water quality:

• UC Davis Tahoe Research Group
• University of Nevada, Reno Tahoe team
• Nevada Desert Research Institute
• USDA Forest Service's Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit
• US Geological Survey

Where to get more information on Tahoe's water issues:

• UC Davis Reports on Lake Clarity and Limnology
• U.S. Geological Survey: Tahoe publications
• Environmental Protection Agency's Water Programs
• Water Quality Management for National Forest System Lands in California
• Truckee River Watershed Project
• Water Quality Standards Inventory Database
• Health and Environmental Assessment of MTBE