Water Quality

Despite the appearance of more algae attached to submerged rocks in the near-shore areas of Lake Tahoe, scientists are reluctant to ascribe the apparent increase to actual population growth.

Scott Hackley, staff research associate at TERC and principal author of the “Lake Tahoe Water Quality Investigations,” said he has heard people who frequent the near-shore area report an increase in periphyton (a mixture of algae and other bacteria) growth this year, but said the algal population fluctuates year to year based on “an interaction of factors.”

“I would caution those that rely on anecdotal or visual evidence,” he said. “We have been compiling data since the 1980s. We are continuing to collect data and we will look to identify trends or dramatic shifts over a sustained period of time.”

Truckee Meadows Water Systems of Reno is providing free arsenic testing for residents of Northern Nevada with drinking water supplies coming from private wells.

“Municipal water providers test their water and, if the arsenic levels are high, notify customers. Unfortunately, private well users usually have no idea if their arsenic levels exceed the EPA limit of 10 parts per billion until it's too late.” said Mike Guidara, company president, in a press release.

Arsenic in high doses causes cancer of the lungs, bladder, kidneys and skin. Once ingested, it accumulates in the body.

“The government has allocated grant money for public water supplies, but not for homes drawing from private wells. We've seen local wells at over 100 parts per billion and now, there is talk of lowering the EPA standard to 3-5 parts per billion” Guidara said.

Trout Unlimited and the Sierra Business Council will hold the second annual Great Sierra River Cleanup on the Truckee River from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Last year more than 3,500 volunteers joined together to remove more than 130 tons of trash and recyclables from Sierra rivers during the first Great Sierra River Cleanup, organized by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.

More than 100 community groups spread across 22 counties and 500 river miles will pull appliances, cigarette butts, beverage cans, baby diapers, tires, furniture and more from the rivers and streams that supply the state of California with 65 percent of its water.

Donner Lake Tanker Spill 2010 The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and Nevada County Environmental Health (NCEH) are responding to a diesel spill that occurred on May 26 which when a tanker truck overturned and spilled as much as 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel along I-80 on the west side of Donner Lake. Some of the material washed over the side of the interstate into the soil and watershed of Billy Mack and Summit Creeks. Summit Creek and Donner Lake water test show no diesel detected, but crews will continue to monitor the water. Operations now focus on mapping the extent of soil contamination to create a plan for soil removal. Please go to DFG OSPR site, below, for updates on cleanup.

By Jeff DeLong • jdelong@rgj.com • December 3, 2009

On Wednesday, crews diverted the river's waters from the human-built, straight-shot "ditch" where they have flowed for decades into a new, more natural meandering channel mirroring nature's design.

"We're actually forcing it over today," said Mickey Hazelwood, Truckee River project director for the Nature Conservancy, which is heading up the restoration project.

"We're trying to make the Truckee what it once was," Hazelwood said.

Since July, heavy equipment has been at work along a more than milelong section of the river near the former site of the Mustang Ranch, Nevada's first licensed bordello.

Much of the lower Truckee was straightened and channelized decades ago during federal flood control projects or for agriculture. The result was a degraded river system vulnerable to erosion and unsuitable for fish and wildlife.

The restored stretch of river includes natural meanders where flood waters can slow and spread naturally over the floodplain, nourishing the land and improving fish and wildlife habitat.

Diversion of the river into its new channel is a pivotal point for a $7.8 million project that will continue for several years as native vegetation is nurtured by experts.

"It's always a milestone event getting the flows into that new, sinuous channel," Hazelwood said. "That's a river, not a ditch. It looks more like the Truckee River used to look."

The Mustang restoration, along with similar improvements completed, under way or planned along the lower Truckee, are welcome and needed, said Dan Mosley, water quality manager for the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.

"They could do this all the way down to Pyramid Lake, and it would be real good, especially for the fish," Mosley said.

The Mustang restoration follows similar projects completed downstream at the historic McCarran Ranch and further down river at the 102 Ranch. A similar project targeted the site of an old mobile home park in Lockwood, just east of Sparks.

Nearly 9 miles of the lower Truckee have been restored, Hazelwood said. Experts are in the process of figuring out how much more work needs to be done along a river where 50 miles have been "highly impacted" by past human actions, Hazelwood said.

"We need to do more," he said. "I can tell you we have a lot more work to do to call this a long-term success."

(due to the new policy by RGJ of pulling internet articles into archives within two weeks of printing, this article is shown in entirety.)

More than $212,000 in unanticipated costs tied to rebuilding Pioneer Dam is prompting tongue-lashings at both Sparks city administrators and the federal government.
BY DAVID JACOBS • djacobs@rgj.com • November 27, 2009

The extra funding is needed because Sparks did not obtain all of the permits from the federal government before the city awarded a construction contract earlier this year, officials said. Now with winter arriving, the project is being mothballed.

"The difficulty I have is that we are stewards of taxpayers' money," Councilman Ron Schmitt said. "Now with errors on the staff's part, we have a $212,000 deficiency."

Sparks Public Works Director Wayne Seidel told city leaders that Sparks had awarded the Pioneer Dam contract in anticipation of the permits being issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"We learned a lesson as far as don't count your chickens before they hatch," Seidel told the city council in a briefing this week.

He had anticipated support from the fish and wildlife service. "It improves fish passage, and that structure is old. There are efficiencies that we are gaining by doing the project," he said.

Mayor Geno Martini blames the Fish and Wildlife Service. He traced it back to the city's whitewater park, also on the Truckee River, that opened last spring. The agency said the whitewater park at Rock Park was inconsistent with long-term goals to restore the Truckee River and return threatened fish to its waters.

"This is a personal vendetta against the city of Sparks with U.S. Fish and (Wildlife) because they didn't want the whitewater park, and we finally got it through," Martini told city leaders this week. "They never wanted that water park, and this is paybacks. I'm thoroughly convinced of that.

"Through a normal process, this permit would have been issued, and it should have been issued, and they held it up on purpose, put it on somebody's desk, and it went to the bottom of the pile," Martini said of the Pioneer Dam project. "That's what's aggravated me more than anything...They held it up knowing full well that we needed to do this."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday disputed the mayor's claims. "We don't have a personal vendetta against the city," said Bob Williams, the federal agency's Nevada state supervisor. "I view the statement of the mayor as one of those standing for the people and wanting to make a statement," Williams said. "We have no personal vendetta. We will continue to work with the city and the (Army) Corps of Engineers and permit a project that is good for fish and good for the city."

The Pioneer Dam dispute is not linked to the whitewater park "other than the consultation process is the same" with permits required for both, Williams said.

"It's the same people going through the same process, and one might say that they (Sparks) should have known what we were going to need...They didn't learn from the first (whitewater park) lesson. Hopefully, they'll learn from this one."

"We have tried to express to the city, not only through the whitewater park, but also the Pioneer (dam) project, our general concern for in-river work that would be adverse to our recovery program for Lahontan cutthroat trout and cui-ui," Williams said. "That is our responsibility under the endangered species act, to try to maintain and support habitat that would support these two federally endangered species."

The agency is working with the Corps of Engineers in an issuing a biological opinion on the Pioneer Dam project.

"We are still waiting for an adequate mitigation plan from the city that the Corps would use to show how this project is going to minimize and mitigate the in-river work that could potentially be adverse to Lahontan cutthroat trout," Williams said.

The $212,020 approved this week to Peavine Construction will pay costs to mothball the Pioneer Dam project until next summer, if permits are granted. Money will come from what was described to City Council as "opportunity funds." They originate from storm-drain funding obtained from ratepayers.

"A new term," said Schmitt, a council member since 2001. "I've never heard of 'opportunity funds.' We've got a slush fund of opportunities. I've got a whole bunch of opportunities to use that money, but I've never been told we have that slush fund."

"...If we know the federal government has issues, we need to be a little more diligent to make sure we don't create the mistakes," Schmitt said .

He joined council members Ron Smith, Julia Ratti and Mike Carrigan in supporting the additional funds for Pioneer Dam.

"I'm going to approve it because you put a contractor in a bad position," Schmitt said. "I would guess to say that if a contractor went out there and did a job without a permit, we would probably be pretty hard on that contractor. Would we not?"

Experts to discuss polluted Chalk Creek
By Jeff DeLong • jdelong@rgj.com • November 14, 2009

Experts will outline plans for Chalk Creek, a tributary of the Truckee River, and discuss ways residents and businesses in the area are contributing to its pollution with everyday practices described as "urban slobber."

Chalk Creek winds about 5 miles from the flanks of Peavine Peak through northwest Reno neighborhoods before entering the river.

Along the way, it picks up dense concentrations of salts and algae nutrients, the result of overwatering of lawns, heavy fertilizing, washing cars on driveways and similar practices, said Lynell Garfield, a hydrologist for the city of Reno.

It's caused Chalk Creek to become one of the region's more polluted streams, tainting quality of Truckee River water that provides 80 percent of the area's water supply.

"If we don't look at the source, we're never going to clean up that creek," said Garfield, who will explain plans to clean up the creek, such as creating a wetlands near Rainbow Ridge Park to help naturally filter creek water.

Cleaning the creek
Officials said residents must make some changes for the effort to clean Chalk Creek to succeed:
Do not overwater and let irrigation water run into storm drains.
Conserve water through drip irrigation, use of soaker hoses, microspray systems and nozzles when washing cars.
Do not over fertilize and never fertilize near ditches, streams over other water bodies.
Store pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals in a covered area.
Use nontoxic, alternative pest control.

If you go
What: Chalk Creek outreach meeting.
Where: Northwest Reno library, 2325 Robb Drive.
When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday
To learn more: www.tmstormwater.com,
www.tmwalandscapeguide.com.

By Jeff DeLong • jdelong@rgj.com • November 13, 2009

Experts will outline plans for Chalk Creek, a tributary of the Truckee River, and discuss ways residents and businesses in the area are contributing to its pollution with everyday practices described as “urban slobber.”

Chalk Creek winds about 5 miles from the flanks of Peavine Peak through northwest Reno neighborhoods before entering the Truckee River.

Along the way, it picks up dense concentrations of salts and algae nutrients, the result of overwatering of lawns, heavy fertilizing, washing cars on driveways and similar practices, said Lynell Garfield, a hydrologist for the city of Reno.

It’s caused Chalk Creek to become one of the region’s more polluted streams, tainting quality of Truckee River water that provides 80 percent of the area’s water supply.

“If we don’t look at the source, we’re never going to clean up that creek,” said Garfield, who will explain plans to clean up the creek, such as creating a wetlands near Rainbow Ridge Park to help naturally filter creek water.

Officials say residents must make some changes for the effort to succeed:

Do not over water and let irrigation water run into storm drains.
Conserve water through drip irrigation, use of soaker hoses, micro-spray systems and nozzles when washing cars.
Do not over fertilize and never fertilize near ditches, streams over other water bodies.
Store pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals in a covered area.
Use non-toxic, alternative pest control.

www.kolotv.com
Jun 24, 2009

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Lake Tahoe's economy could lose millions in taxes and tourism revenue if invasive mussels become established in the lake's famed blue waters, according to a new report.

The report prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimated that the Tahoe economy could suffer an annual loss of $22 million because of lost tourism, declining property values and maintenance costs associated with the mollusks, according to a Reno Gazette-Journal story published Wednesday.

"This is just so frightening," said Allen Biaggi, director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and chairman of Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's policy board. The agency was scheduled to discuss the report's findings this week.

Quagga mussels first turned up in Lake Mead in early 2007 and have spread to other waters in southern Nevada and California. Zebra mussels were discovered in a reservoir about 250 miles from Tahoe in January 2008.

The mussels have wildlife officials around the country on alert because once they become entrenched, they multiple quickly and there's no way to get rid of them.

Experts said that if the mollusks establish themselves, they could forever alter Lake Tahoe's sensitive ecosystem, clog water intakes, encrust boats and docks and cover now-pristine beaches with sharp, smelly shells. Biaggi also said they could eventually spread down the Truckee River to Pyramid Lake north of Reno.

Lake Tahoe regulators instituted boat inspections for the mussels last summer, including mandatory checks for vessels from other areas. When boats exit the lake, a seal is fixed between the boat and trailer. If the seal is intact when the boat launches again, no new inspection is required.

Regulators imposed a fee-based program this June to ensure that inspections continue. Over the Memorial Day weekend, inspectors decontaminated six boats for invasive mussels.

Biaggi said stopping the mollusks is the agency's second priority for protecting the lake that straddles the Nevada-California line, topped only by the prevention of catastrophic wildfires.

"Anytime you get something that can't be undone, that rises to a higher level," said Phil Brozek, senior project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers. "I've heard people say it's the most important issue, maybe because it's irreparable."

For entire article, please view website.