Posted on 08/09/2006 4:45:18 PM PDT by SierraWasp
LAKE TAHOE Lake Tahoe not losing clarity, test shows
- Carl T. Hall Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Lake Tahoe's water clarity is nothing like it used to be, but the latest measurements revealed Tuesday that at least the murk doesn't seem to be getting any murkier.
UC Davis scientists said the lake was clear to an average depth of 72.4 feet in 2005, based on how far from the surface they could see a white dinner-plate-size measuring tool known as a "Secchi disk." The disk is lowered every seven to 10 days at two locations. The depth at which the plate disappears, averaged for each year, is recorded as the lake's "Secchi depth."
The 2005 measurement was marginally shallower than the 73.6 feet reported for 2004, but remained well within the recent range, which has varied from 67.3 feet in 2000 to 78 feet in 2002. In 1968, when the measurements began, the Secchi depth was an average of 102.4 feet.
Environmental managers are working on a long-range restoration plan for the Lake Tahoe basin and use water clarity as one measure of the lake's health. Scientists discount year-to-year changes in clarity because of the transitory effects of precipitation. Lake clarity is affected mostly by the amount of algae and fine particles in the lake, which can enter from the atmosphere or seasonal runoff.
In a news release, Julie Regan, communications director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, said the latest clarity number is "encouraging," but also underscores "how crucial it is to stay the course in our efforts to restore Lake Tahoe and to preserve it for future generations."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
This "clarity" thang with Lake Tahoe has been around longer and is just as bogus as "Global Warming!" (that it's a manmade problem, that is)
The problem is that the aging enviro-nutcase-whacko hippies can't see that well anymore and need glasses....
Din't there used ta be a FReeper named "clarity" that was a lawyer? I think so...
Oh yeah, but I wouldn't go poking around that old wound.
Hey! That there waz a purdy asstute observashun!!!
See #4.
TaHoHoHo PING!
It's interesting to note that we had to 'accept' the gentrification of Mirror Lake at Yosemite, and let it become a muddy frog pond for some reason, but we cannot 'accept' the same exact process at Tarhole; why is that?
I loved the "Keep Tahoe Red, White, and Blue" stickers, and I never knew where I could get one.
There. Much better.
Clear water may be pretty but it is also lifeless.
And I wish those old worn out enviro-wacko "Save Mono Lake" bumper stickers would disapear too. The lake has been filling for over decade.
There's a lake up there?
Tahoe is one of the truly fabulously beautiful places anywhere. And it is rimmed with developement as a result.
The people pollution is somewhat bad for the lake but being able to see a dinner plate at 76 feet is still very good.
Mirror lake was a small lake that is now almost mirror meadow via natural processes at yosemite.
Tahoe becoming dirty is a man made one.
BTTT
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