Environmental Impact on Lake Tahoe From Massive Flooding to Be Studied

Loads of sand, silt and debris that spewed into Lake Tahoe from January’s flooding have left an environmental legacy for researchers to study in the months and years to come. “This was a real catastrophic event and its impact is probably going to be felt in the lake for months to come,” said John Reuter, a UC Davis researcher and head of a Tahoe interagency monitoring program.

Reuter said the lake’s clarity has been decreasing slowly since 1969. Although there has been no significant drop in clarity so far following the severe rainstorms, there most likely will be a sharp drop following the spring warming, when the lake’s shallow and deep waters mix.