Water in the West- Lake Tahoe- Nevada

We were unable to visit Lake Tahoe when we were in Reno, Nevada on June 28 but I will tell you a little about the Lake. Lake Tahoe is the oldest lake in Norht America being 4-5 million years old.

It is easy to see why people vacation here.

Lake Tahoe is the second deepest freshwater lake in the United States-1,685 feet deep (second to Crater Lake in Oregon). The lake is 22 miles long and 22 miles wide. It is located along the border of California and Nevada west of Carson City, NV. The lake is a major tourist attraction- home to ski resorts and of course summer recreation activites- boating, fishing, swimming, canoeing etc.

The water quality in the lake has been decreasing since the 1980s. The lake is becoming increasingly eutrophic ( having an excessive richness of nutrients).The water clarity is decreasing at an average rate of 0.25 meters a year and the priamry producation fo the lake is increasing by 5% annually. The eutrophication is mainly due to the runoff coming from homes and streets, casinos, golf courses, and septic systems and the lake has lost adjacent marshes  that would filter than runoff because of increased development.