Tahoe’s level starts to decline at last

Friday, July 31, 1998 | 10:24 a.m.

This week, water evaporating from the lake's surface started to exceed runoff from streams and ground water.

"It's turned the corner," said federal water master Garry Stone. "It certainly isn't going to get higher."

The level of the mountain lake, on the California-Nevada border, peaked Monday at 6,229.07 feet above sea level - barely under its legal limit of 6,229.1 feet.

By Thursday, the lake level had dropped slightly to 6,229.05 feet as water poured from a Truckee River outflow dam at Tahoe City at a rate of 1,020 cubic feet per second.

The evaporation rate on the surface of the 194-square-mile lake, which varies according to wind and temperature, was measured at 0.15 inches a day.

Tahoe Basin residents don't have to look far to remember when things were very different. The lengthy drought of the early 1990s exposed vast stretches of shallow lake bottom, leaving docks high and dry and limiting use of many boat-launching ramps.

The lake reached its lowest recorded level in November 1992, at 6,220.26 feet. That's nearly nine feet lower than the current level - for a lake that's about 12 miles wide and 22 miles long.

While plentiful water offers a big plus for Tahoe boaters, beach access is a different matter.

High water levels have beach-goers crowded on thin strips of sand all around the lake. Snow melt also has kept water temperatures cooler for this time of year.

Stone, who has watched Tahoe rise and fall for 31 years as water master or as an employee of that office, says available records show the heavy winters of the past few years and their effect on the lake are unprecedented.

"We've had big years, but we've never had four in a row," he adds.