Tahoe Pollution from Within Basin
A recent review of air-quality research in Tahoe has made it evident that “pollutants most closely connected to the decline in Lake Tahoe’s water quality originated largely from within the [Tahoe] basin,” according to the UC peer-reviewed journal California Agriculture.
So what is generally responsible for pollutants in the lake? Soil erosion and nutrient runoff in to the lake, as well as air pollution, are spurring algae growth.
Many have thought that emissions from the Bay Area and Sacramento have led to overpollution of Lake Tahoe, but levels of nitric acid, phosphorus, ozone and other pollutants generally dissipate in the Sierra foothills. It has become clear that the Tahoe Basin is being polluted by local road dust, soil, vehicle exhaust, and wood smoke, all of which can end up in the waters of the Lake.
“The most effective strategy to reduce the impact of atmospheric deposition on the lake’s clarity and in-basin forest health would be to control local pollutant emissions,” according to Alan Gertler, professor at the Desert Research Intstitute in Reno.
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