Lake Tahoe On West Coast Essay Example For Students

Lake Tahoe On West Coast Essay An Introduction Lake Tahoe is the pristine jewel of the West Coast, known aroundthe world for its beauty. The Lake Tahoe area was even in the spotlight for thewinter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley in 60s. Over the decades we have learned,by mistake, what needs to be done to protect the lakes beauty and character. The lake is foremost known for its color and clarity, and has been capitalizedon for these qualities. However, upon enjoying the lake and creating a touristand recreational draw we have jeopardized the lake for all the features that wemost enjoy and treasure. Simply put the clarity, color and beauty of the lakeare in trouble, and the transparency is decreasing at a frightening rate. Thebuild up of phosphorous and nitrates in the lake has promoted the growth ofalgae that clouds the water, changing the famous aqua, sapphire blue color to amurky, cloudy green. Lets take a look at why we should be concerned with thedeclining clarity of a lake, and why this lake is so special and unique, and whythe surrounding environment is so important. There are many factors involved incausing the decline briefly discussed in this paper; including soil erosion, airquality/pollution, stream conditions which are water flow, and algae growth. Concluding with some positive measures that will help the lake over the longterm. Lake Tahoe History In exploring what makes this lake unique and specialwe must first explore where it is, how it got there, and its aquatic makeup. Lake Tahoe known only to the Paiute Indians until it was discoveredby General Fremont in 1844. The Lakes exceptional transparency was described byMark Twain as the finest picture earth affords. The lake is over amile high and is nestled amongst the Sierra Nevada, snowcapped, mountain range. Lake Tahoe is uniquely divided between two states, Nevada and California, whichpresents difficulties in long-term studies, developmental controls, andprotection goals.(See figure one) The Tahoe Basin has many political armswrapped around it , often with overlapping jurisdiction, including the FederalGovernment, two States, five Counties, and a City. One example of this problemis the fact that: Lake Tahoe is designated as an Outstanding NationalResource Water (ONRW) under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water QualityStandards Program and the Clean Water Act. With this designation, Lake Tahoe isprovided the highest level of protection under the antidegradation policy and nofurther degradation should be permitted. The state of California recognizes thisdesignation, while Nevada does not.(1:1) The one fact that everyone seemsto agree on is Lake Tahoe needs its purity protected and preserved. Contrary tothe belief that the lake was formed by a volcanic crater collapse; the lakeactual ly, was formed by the rise and fall of the landscape due to faulting. TheSierra Nevada is a batholith, an enormous, complex masses of solidifiedmagma, usually granite . composed of many individual plutons that push asidesome of the rocks of the crust while melting and digesting others (2:403). This pushing aside and uplifting formed a deep graben fault basin(3:42). The lake has a surface area of 193 square miles (122,200 acres); a depthof 1,645 feet at maximum and 989 feet at average; a surface temperature of 68Fmaximum and 41F minimum; a capacity of 122,160,280 acre-feet of water; alength of 22 miles and width of 12 miles; a surface elevation of 6,229 feetabove sea level; and a shoreline of 71 miles, divided into 42 miles inCalifornia and 29 miles in Nevada. Lake Tahoes great depth makes it the thirdlargest in North America and the tenth deepest in the World, rivaled by suchlakes as Oregons Crater Lake and Russias Lake Baikal(3:42,4:1,5:2,6:87). Lake Tahoe is as long as the English Channel is wide. The Panama Canal,700 ft wide and 50 ft Deep, could be filled with Lake Tahoes water even if itcircled the globe, at the equator, and there would still be enough water left tofill a canal of the same size running from San Francisco to New York.(3:1) The altitude of the area and freezing mountains would cause one to thinkthe lake would freeze over, however, the tremendous depth prevents the lake fromfreezing. The theory of convection is proven here; the volume is always inmotion, as the surface cools it gets heavier and sinks, and the warmer, deeper,water is lighter and rises, mixing with the cool water and thus the lake doesnot freeze over. Some inlets, however, being shallower, have been covered with athin layer of ice. The lack of ice on the top of the lake does not affect thequality, in any way, other than to demonstrate its depth that does contribute toits clarity and color. The lake basin is affected by its surrounding composi tionand rock content, which are mostly glacial till and sediment. Anothercontributing factor to the lakes environmental delicacy is that the lake has anextraordinarily long retention time. In other words, if completely drained itwould take over 700 years to refill to its existing level. There is some waterloss due to evaporation but only one river flows out of Lake Tahoe, the TruckeeRiver (63 streams flow into the Lake). Little turn-over action occurs to thenutrients that flow into the lake, because of this limited drainage andcapacity. Lake Clarity Introduction to Causes One issue that was addressed inthe late 1950s and 1960s was sewage. The flow of sewage has been diverted awayfrom the lake since the 1960s. First with the costly and controversial Culpsadvanced five-step treatment wastewater system and now a simpler, at least moreeffective, waste management system. Even with sewage being exported thedevelopment to the Tahoe Basin over the last few decades has brought increasedpoll ution, both to the streams, the atmosphere, and the groundwater. Theincreased nutrients from all of this pollution have brought steady algae growthand increased loss of clarity. According to, Mr. Bob Richards, of the TahoeResearch Group, in Tahoe City, the lake is loosing one foot per year oftransparency (1). Another expert and researcher on the conditions of Lake Tahoefor the past thirty years, Mr. Charles R. Goldman states that, lakechemistry and biology since the early 1960s has shown that algal production isincreasing at a rate greater than 5 percent per year with concomitant decline ofclarity at the alarming rate of 0.5M per year (7:140). How do they findthese ratings? The process is simple but very accurate. A 10 inch diameter,white plate, a secchi disc, is lowered, on a meter line, the team of researchersrecords the point that the disc disappears from view, then raises it back up andrecords the point at which they can just see it. This process is repeated till30-35 measuremen ts are recorded, per session, several times a year, and theaverage of those readings is the annual for the year.(See figure 2) As evident,by the secchi disc ratings, the clarity has been dramatically affected; nowlets look at how the lake got this way. Many contributing factors are at workon the lake soil erosion, atmospheric pollution, water inflow, and algal growth. The effects of minimum wage on leisure and free ti EssayLake Tahoe has been studied and compared to other Western Lakes, such as, CastleLake and Pyramid Lake, and arguments have been made that the climatic variationsaffect all the lakes of the west equally, increasing fertility to the samedegree. However, Castle Lake has not shown the same fertility, despite same datacollection methods.(3) Which demonstrates Lake Tahoes problems areself-inflicted. Steps Towards Protection The construction and building boom hasmonopolized the Tahoe basin and has helped to wreak havoc on the preciousbalance in the lake. Today environmentalist, scientists, and concerned citizenshave begun to understand and change the way we treat the environment and thelake, thus protecting the lake quality. Gone unchecked the lake conditions willworsen. Even in the 1960s, in May and June, large crops of attached algae diedand released from their sites (along piers and shore rocks), coating the beachesand marinas with a brown, slimy, smelly material that decays and eventuallyreturns as bacteria and nutrients to the lake through wave action (3:47). Thispicture is not what most people envision when picturing the sapphire blue watersof the lake. Obvious changes and the educated observations have led to greatconcerns over the quality of the lake. Many changes are not as visible but ifleft alone will quickly become visible, thus destroying the ecosystem of thebasin. As mentioned, the lake is the center of many factions of politicalcontrol. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) has been a strong facilitatorof the needs for controls, there is little evidence to show they have made anytremendous impact needed to reverse the trends of fertility in the Lake. TRPAhas put forth pollution control measures called Best Management Practicesor BMPs. The program requires new projects to implement the BMPsrequired paved driveways, which at first seems like a contradiction to theresearch, however, if we compare a graded, disturbed, un-paved surface with aproperly paved surface, the un-paved has nothing to hold the soil in place,washing the unnecessary sediment into the lake. Other BMPs, include but are notlimited to, revegetation programs, retaining structures, and slopestabilization. To protect the lake all parties involved need to unify theconservation efforts and develop an organized protection and planning bureau orassembly, sponsored with governmental support, above and beyond the TahoeRegional Planning Agency and Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring Program. Thecurrent agencies, and committees have taken positive steps to protect the areawhich includes: * slow releasing or no chemical fertilizers on lawns and golfcourses. * ski slopes are no longer allowed to use ammonium nitrate to help makesnow. * California passed a 85 million dollar bond in 1982 to buy-up sensitivelands, potentially endangering the lake, now are protected. * Nevada passed asimilar 30 million dollar buy-up bond in 1 986. * The afore-mentioned mentionedBMPs. Without these positive approaches, the dedication of the University ofDavis, Researchers and Scientists, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and othergroups of concerned organizations, Tahoe would be unclear and green today. Thegeneral public can take measures by treating our delicate ecosystems withrespect and becoming educated on our delicate balances. Steps could include: *Bike more or walk- save our air quality. * Maintain cars properly and up tocodes. * Dont Drip. Leaky facets waste 9 liters of water per minute. * Dontpour toxins into the drainage system (paint, gases, fertilizers, etc.) * Recycle* Influence your work place to take steps in being Earth conscious. For heavenssake even the cartoons are teaching our children to be earth aware withCaptain Planet, hes our hero, taking pollution down to zero,teaching children to reduce, reuse, and recycle, and to fight the bad-guys whopollute our earths ecosystems. All adults can be Captain Plane ts and protectour world. Bibliography1) Richards, Bob. Personal Phone Interviews, FAX. 24 Feb. 1997, 16 Mar 1997. 2) Gabler, Robert, Sager,Robert, and Wise, Daniel Essentials of PhysicalGeography. 5th ed. Orlando:Saunders College Publishing,1997. 3) Goldman, CharlesR., Richards, Robert. The Urbanization of the Lake Tahoe Basin: A Microcosm forthe Study of Environmental Change with Continuing Development. Proceedings,State of the Sierra Symposium 1985-86, Pub. #177. California:University ofDavis, 1986 4) Tahoe Research Group, State Natural Resources. Lake TahoeFacts, Ten Most Frequently Asked Questions. Internetaddress:WWW.Ceres, 15 April 1997. 5) Goldman, Charles R., Byron, Earl R. Changing Water Quality at Lake Tahoe: the First Five Years of the Lake TahoeInteragency Monitoring Program. The California State Water Resources ControlBoard. California:University of Davis, Institute of Ecology, Tahoe ResearchGroup, 1987. 6) Sheaffer, John R., Stevens, Leonard A., Future Water, AnExciting Solution to Americas Most Serious Resource Crisis. New York: WilliamMorrow and Company, Inc., 1983. 7) Reuter, J.E., et al. University Contributionto Lake and Watershed Management: Case Studies From the Western UnitedStatesLake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake. Watershed 96 A National Conference onWatershed Management. Maryland:Baltimore, Water Environment Federation, 12 June1996. ISBN: 1-57278-028-2. 8) Goldman, Charles R. Primary Productivity,Nutrients, and Transparency During the Early Onset of Eutrophication. AmericanSociety of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.. 33(6, part1),1321-1333. 1988. 9)Goldman, Charles R., Jassby Alan D., de Amezaga, Evelyne. Forest Fires,Atmospheric Deposition an d Primary Productivity at Lake Tahoe,California-Nevada. Verhandlungen-Proceedings-Travaux of the InternationalAssociation for Theoretical and Applied Limnology, Congress in Munich. Iss 24,499-503. Stuttgart, Germany, 1990. 10) Byron, Earl r., Goldman, Charles R.,Land-Use and Water Quality in Tributary Streams of Lake Tahoe,California-Nevada. Journal of Environmental Quality Vol. 18,no.1, (Jan-Mar1989):84-88. 11) Bowman, Chris. Clinton Seeks Summit on Lake TahoePollution The Sacramento Bee 26 October 1996:B1 12) Bowman, Chris, Hoge,Patrick. Runoff, Air Pollution Cloud Waters of Crystal-Clear LakeThe Sacramento Bee 8 December 1996:A28 13) Associated Press. Team SeeksClues to Cloudy Lake Tahoe Water The Sacramento Bee 16 October1995:SUPCAL. 14) Malley, George. Personal Interview. 15 April, 5 May 1997 MAPSAND GRAPHS REFERENCES Figure One, Tahoe Region Map: AAA Travel Book. 1997 ed. Figure Two, Secchi Depth Chart: Goldman, Charles R. Primary Productivity,Nutrients, and Transparency During the Early Onset of Eutrophication. AmericanSociety of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.. 33(6, part1),Pg. 1329. 1988. FigureThree, Population Growth Chart: Goldman, Charles R., Richards, Robert. TheUrbanization of the Lake Tahoe Basin: A Microcosm for the Study of EnvironmentalChange with Continuing Development. Proceedings, State of the Sierra Symposium1985-86, Pub. #177. California:University of Davis, Pg. 43. 1986. Figure Four,Water Cycle Chart: Goldman, Charles R., Richards, Robert. The Urbanization ofthe Lake Tahoe Basin: A Microcosm for the Study of Environmental Change withContinuing Development. Proceedings, State of the Sierra Symposium 1985-86, Pub. #177. California:University of Davis, Pg. 43. 1986. Geography