Lake Tahoe’s waters look exceptionally blue, and it’s no coincidence. As lake levels and reservoirs fill to their brim as winter storms brought historic rain and snowfall, it has also brought the return of native zooplankton.
Lake Tahoe has famed for its water clarity for visitors yearly, is the clearest lake to swim in. Over the past 50 years, UC Davis researchers have used a Secchi disk to help read the water’s clarity. The Primary factors affecting the lake are silt, clay, algae, and the Mysis shrimp.
U.C. Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center has been studying Lake Tahoe to keep the waters clear and debris free. The extensive winter storm, the magnitude of the runoff, the warming of the lake surface, and the depth have helped bring back the zooplankton community in the food web. UC Davis does expect the Mysis Shrimp to rebound, and an anticipated return in the loss of clarity will be seen. Future management actions will be incorporated to help in controlling the Mysis population.
In addition, to the strenuous efforts that are taking place to keep fine particles and nutrients out of Lake Tahoe. Management agencies in the basin reported more than 500,000 pounds of fine sediment and other clarity-harming pollutants are being kept away from the lake yearly through roadway maintenance and erosion control projects. The lake’s resilience must continue to be supported by regional investment in water quality, forest health, and invasive species prevention and control to help maintain Lake Tahoe’s water clarity.
Photo: Brant Allen, UC Davis TERC
