More money to be spent on Tahoe erosion study

Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999 | 11:30 a.m.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's board of governors decided Wednesday to spend up to $125,000 to study the issue. The action came after federal water master Garry Stone told the agency federal law prevents him from major changes in the way the primary water supply for Reno-Sparks is managed.

"My purpose today is to tell you we do fill the lake, we have filled the lake, and we will continue to fill the lake," Stone said. "I will tell you without hesitation we fill the lake when we have enough water to do it."

The top 6.1 feet of the lake, controlled by the Lake Tahoe Dam in Tahoe City, is a reservoir for Reno-Sparks and other downstream users. Some 744,600 acre-feet of water, enough to serve Reno-Sparks for a decade, is stored by the dam.

But following five wet winters, high lake levels appear to many to be causing substantially more erosion than in years past. Eroding dirt is full of phosphorus and other materials that cause algae to flourish in the water.

TRPA chairman Larry Sevison said "trainloads of dirt" have washed into the lake from exposed shoreline on Tahoe's west shore. Others agree.

"If you're a shoreline (property) owner and you watch 20 feet of your shoreline and several large trees drop into the lake ... that has a significant impact," said Jan Brisco of the Tahoe Lakefront Association.

Larry Hoffman, an a lawyer representing property owners, said the problem could possibly be handled by just lowering the lake a few inches as winter arrives.

But every inch is precious to downstream users, particularly during dry years, Stone stressed. And altering the lake's management in any way that disrupts required flows of the Truckee River requires an order from federal court.