Editorial: Protecting our lakes

Wednesday, July 5, 2006 | 7:19 a.m.

A bill headed to the U.S. Senate floor would provide almost $100 million for preservation efforts at Lake Tahoe and Nevada's Walker Lake.

According to the Associated Press, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid included the funding in an energy and water appropriations bill that was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which then sent it to the full Senate.

The bill calls for dedicating $88 million for projects at Walker Lake, which is 10 miles north of Hawthorne on the east side of U.S. 95. Water levels have dropped more than 150 feet over the past 120 years, largely because of water diversions for agriculture upstream.

Walker Lake, a leftover from the ancient Lake Lahontan, receives water only from snowmelt that rolls into the Walker River and has no natural outflow. This means that as water levels drop, the levels of minerals and salt continue to rise, which has already made the lake uninhabitable for species of fish it once supported. This, along with elevated mercury levels, threatens remaining fish populations and also migrating loons that rest and refuel on Walker Lake annually.

The bill also would provide $9.4 million to support ongoing restoration and preservation projects at Lake Tahoe.

Although federal officials who wish to bury high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain would prefer to see Nevada's interior as a vast, barren wasteland, treasured geographical features such as Walker Lake and Lake Tahoe provide but two stark reminders that such an assumption is absolutely untrue. Congress should approve the funding for restoration of these beautiful, but somewhat neglected, natural wonders.