Columnist Susan Snyder: Lake needs more than a ripple

Monday, April 5, 2004 | 8:40 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

Walker Lake is getting a drop when it needs a flood.

In a decision last month, U.S. 9th District Court Judge Edward Reed approved a plan to charge the dying central Nevada lake with 13,588 acre-feet of water from the Walker River.

Walker Lake sits on the east side of U.S. 95 about 10 miles north of Hawthorne. It is a remnant of Ice Age Lake Lahontan and is a "terminal" lake, which means it has no natural outflow. Water flows into it from the Walker River and evaporates at a rate of about 4 feet a year.

Increasing agriculture upstream has siphoned off much of the river water that once kept Walker Lake a pristine fishery. Coupled with the widespread drought that continues to plague the state, the lake has dropped some 140 feet in about 100 years.

As the water level decreases, the level of salt and other minerals increases, because water doesn't flow out and take these minerals with it. And the saltier the water, the more difficult it is for the Lanhontan cutthroat trout and the tui chub -- a fish the trout feed upon -- to live.

A year ago I spent a week talking with the people connected to Walker Lake. Ranchers and farmers in the Mason and Smith valleys upstream rely on irrigation from the Walker River.

Townspeople in Hawthorne rely on the fishing and tourism created by Walker Lake. Environmentalists and biologists hope to keep the lake alive for the fish populations and the loons and other migrating birds that roost there annually.

In February 2003 the salty sediment level was 13,800 parts per million. Tests in December showed it had risen to about 15,000. A University of Nevada, Reno, study shows the trout die when the figure reaches 16,000. Other research said it could reach 19,000 before they die off.

For about a year a group of federal, state and local stakeholders -- including representatives from the Paiute Indian tribe that lives on the lake's northern shore -- have been working under a self-imposed gag order to solve the problem.

The water release started Tuesday at Bridgeport Reservoir upstream. The water will be held at Weber Reservoir on the Paiute reservation, just north of the lake, until it builds to a level that will create a suitable surge. Such a surge will ensure that the most water possible reaches the lake.

But of the 13,588 acre-feet, Department of Natural Resources officials have said about 3,000 to 5,000 likely will be lost along the way, according to Lorna Weaver, Nevada Wildlife Federation executive director.

"They predict not all of it will get to the lake," she said.

Some will soak into the dought-ravaged riverbank. Some will dissipate in the wetlands just north of the lake when released from Weber Dam. But holding it at the dam to create a surge should help curtail that.

"It will follow the path of least resistance. They would lose more with a trickle," Weaver said.

And Walker Lake will die if we lose the sense of urgency. Even if every drop of the water released made it to Walker Lake -- which it won't -- the lake needs something in the range of 70,000 acre-feet annually to stabilize the salinity levels.

"We are grateful, but we need a substantial amount more to reverse the decline," Weaver said. "It's really just a drop in the bucket."

So keep dropping it fellas. This bucket ain't full yet.