From its headwaters high in
California’s Sierra Nevada, the Truckee River flows into and
through Lake Tahoe, continuing down the Truckee River canyon to
the Reno metropolitan area and then across miles of Nevada high
desert before flowing into Pyramid Lake, 40 miles northeast of
Reno.
Pyramid Lake was a vital fishery for thousands of years, but
the tribe had no legal rights to Truckee River water until 1908
when the U.S. Supreme Court determined that when the federal
government established Indian reservations it implicitly
reserved sufficient land and water to serve its purpose and
that non-Indians could not interfere with a tribe’s reserved
water. The precedent-setting decision also recognized prior
appropriation rights for Western tribes.The court’s opinion
gave the Paiute the most senior claims on Truckee River dating
back to 1859 when land for the Pyramid Lake Indian
Reservation was first set aside.
Thirty percent of California’s developed water supply originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests, which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought, wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
Join us as we guide you on a virtual journey into the foothills and the mountains to examine water issues that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts downstream and throughout the state.
Millions of people visit the Tahoe Sierra each year to enjoy
and recreate on Lake Tahoe, Donner and Independence lakes, as
well as the satellite reservoir system of Boca, Prosser and
Stampede. All these storage basins are in California, but since
the Truckee River system is part of Great Basin hydrology, none
of the streamflow reaches the Pacific Ocean. I frequently
get queries, especially during a drought, regarding our
regional water management. It seems that few people realize
that these reservoirs, including Lake Tahoe, are regulated
primarily for Nevada interests. -Written by Mark McLaughlin, freelance
contributor.
Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla (both D-Calif.)
today joined with Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky
Rosen (both D-Nev.) to introduce bipartisan legislation to
extend authorization of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act. The
original Lake Tahoe Restoration Act was passed in 2000 and
authorized $300 million for the restoration of the lake and
surrounding basin. The current authorization, which was passed
in 2016, will expire in 2024. Reauthorizing the bill will
prevent an interruption in conservation and restoration
planning.
Lake Tahoe is known for its mesmerizing clear, blue water.
But there are multiple threats to the lake that may
someday change the color and worse, downgrade the quality
of the water. Some of the most difficult of these threats to
address are invasive species, specifically two types of
aquatic plants that are not native and are moving from an area
of the lake known as the Tahoe Keys into Lake Tahoe
itself. The plants are Eurasian watermilfoil and
curly-leaf pondweed.
As more people move into the Truckee River watershed, demand
for water is increasing while more and more nonpoint source
(NPS) pollution is making its way to the river. Nearly half a
million people get their water from the Truckee River, and
nonpoint source pollution threatens the quality of not just the
drinking water, but the greater ecosystem of the entire
watershed. Nonpoint source contaminants are the largest single
source of water pollution in Nevada and across the
nation. Here in the Truckee Meadows, things such as
fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, motor oil, engine
coolant, septic tanks, chemical runoff , silt from erosion, and
e. Coli bacteria, to list a few, all affect the overall quality
of ground, surface, and ultimately, drinking water.
The South Tahoe Public Utility District is seeking input as
they update the groundwater management plan for the greater
South Lake Tahoe area. Groundwater is the primary source of
drinking water for more than 90% of the public and private
water systems located throughout this area. Seeking input from
beneficial uses and users of groundwater ensures the region’s
Groundwater Management Plan assess current groundwater
conditions, reflects local groundwater concerns and offers an
appropriate long-term management plan to ensure our community
has a sustainable source of clean water supply.
The creation of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency 50 years ago
challenged us to bring people together to pull this majestic
lake back from the brink. Today, TRPA is the backbone for 80
organizations and thousands of property owners working toward
the common goals of clean water, a healthy watershed and
resilient communities.
U.S. and tribal officials are celebrating completion of a $34
million fish bypass system at a Nevada dam that will allow a
threatened trout species to return to some of its native
spawning grounds for the first time in more than a century.
Construction of the side channel with fish-friendly screens is
a major step toward someday enabling Lahontan cutthroat trout
to make the same 100-mile journey — from a desert lake
northeast of Reno to Lake Tahoe atop the Sierra — that they did
before the dam was built in 1905.
On Wednesday, the Bureau of Reclamation joined its partners,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Farmers Conservation
Alliance, to celebrate the completion of the Derby Dam Fish
Screen Project. The infrastructure modernization project at
Derby Dam will provide Lahontan Cutthroat Trout access to
natural spawning grounds for the first time since 1905.
The snow along the mountains of Nevada’s Great Basin trickle
down when the spring turns into summer. This produces a flurry
of wildlife and natural resources in our area ponds, rivers,
and lakes. … Along the majestic Truckee River, fishermen
would collect thousands of trout from the late 1800’s to the
1900’s. Eventually, this would cause the near extinction of our
state’s native species, the Lahontan cutthroat trout.
The Upper Truckee Marsh in South Lake Tahoe once covered 1,600
acres and is now around 600 acres. It suffered in recent
decades because of cattle ranching, channelizing of the river
and the development of a neighborhood called the Tahoe Keys in
the 1950s and ’60s.
The historic lighthouse at Rubicon Point was born out of
organized advocacy work in the early 1900s. The Lake Tahoe
Protective Association formed in response to a proposal to cut
the rim of Lake Tahoe at the Truckee River. The proposal was
floated by the Truckee River General Electric Company in 1912
as a means to keep water flowing out of Tahoe even when the
lake level dipped too low.
While these remarkable giants have been only a distant memory
in most of their range, recently, fish carrying the ancestral
genes of Pyramid Lake Lahontan cutthroat trout migrated to the
waters of the Truckee River in 2014 to spawn for the first time
in 80 years. The return of these fish … represents the
culmination of years of conservation efforts by local, state,
and federal agencies, as well as the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.
The University’s Adrian Harpold recently led a team in
developing a modeling tool to focus on the issue of water
quantity. The tool predicts how different approaches to
thinning the forest impact snowpack accumulation in Lake Tahoe,
which controls how much water is available for downstream
communities such as Reno.
The American Water Works Association has recognized the Tahoe
Water Suppliers Association with the 2020 Exemplary Source
Water Protection Award for its high level of protection and
preservation of the Lake Tahoe watershed, the region’s primary
water source for residents.
The largest wetland restoration project in the history of the
Lake Tahoe Basin is now underway in the Upper Truckee River
Marsh. The major project to restore the marsh in South Lake
Tahoe has been years in the making to fix the environmental
damage done by the creation of the Tahoe Keys.
The US Bureau of Reclamation is to resume a seismic safety
modification project at Boca Dam near Truckee in California
today, following its seasonal closure in November 2019, with
social distancing guidelines recommended by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and other COVID-19 precautions
to be followed during construction.
Heavy snow in November and December means Northern Nevada’s
seasonal snowpack is off to a strong start in 2020. …
Snowpack in the Lake Tahoe Basin is 102 percent of normal for
the date. In the Truckee River Basin it’s at 99
percent of normal. The region with the strongest snowpack in
the state is in the Owyee River Basin, which is at
123 percent of normal. The area with the thinnest snowpack
is the Walker River Basin at 87 percent.
The California Wildlife Conservation Board has awarded $2.98
million to the California Tahoe Conservancy to help restore the
Upper Truckee Marsh, the largest wetland in the Lake Tahoe
Basin.
After blurring the line between a private and public utility
for nearly two decades, the water district that serves the
world’s largest industrial park is looking to part ways with a
developer. That action comes after The Nevada Independent
reported this month that the public water district … is
operated by a private entity and governed by three board
members who report income from companies connected to Lance
Gilman, the face of the industrial park. The board members also
reside at Gilman’s brothel, the Mustang Ranch.
Officials who oversee a water district exempt from state
regulation work and live at a brothel owned by the public face
of the world’s largest industrial park, raising questions about
whether governmental powers such as eminent domain are being
wielded by a private entity.
Almost 50 years after the Lahontan cutthroat trout was listed
under the Endangered Species Act, agencies are investing in a
game-changing, fish-friendly infrastructure project at Derby
Dam to help bring back the legendary fish to the Truckee River.
Announced on Sept. 11, 2019, construction of a fish passage
structure will allow Lahontan cutthroat trout to complete their
natural migration, swimming back and forth between Pyramid Lake
and historic spawning grounds.
California is chock full of rivers and creeks, yet the state’s network of stream gauges has significant gaps that limit real-time tracking of how much water is flowing downstream, information that is vital for flood protection, forecasting water supplies and knowing what the future might bring.
That network of stream gauges got a big boost Sept. 30 with the signing of SB 19. Authored by Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), the law requires the state to develop a stream gauge deployment plan, focusing on reactivating existing gauges that have been offline for lack of funding and other reasons. Nearly half of California’s stream gauges are dormant.
Community members, supported by staff from the League to Save
Lake Tahoe, Tahoe Resource Conservation District and California
State Parks, have wrapped up a three-year effort to survey the
Upper Truckee River for aquatic invasive plants.
As populations in the West rise, managers of our precious water
supplies have to figure out how to deal with increasing demand
in the midst of climate change. In Southern Nevada, we rely on
the Colorado River. But the Truckee River is the lifeline in
Northern Nevada, and climate change is affecting them in a much
different way.
UC Davis researchers have seized on a new explanation for the
continued dinginess of Lake Tahoe’s blue waters — tiny invasive
shrimp. … To make Tahoe shrimp-free, the researchers are
proposing to remove the crustaceans with trawlers and to mass
market Omega-3 fatty acids extracted from the catch.
There are a lot of reasons our watershed is unique. It’s a high
elevation terminal watershed, what could be more special? Well,
another contributing factor is that the terminus of the Truckee
River watershed exists on the largest Native American
Reservation in Nevada.
Preliminary analyses of water samples collected by researchers
at the Desert Research Institute in Reno revealed the presence
of particles of synthetic fiber and bits of red and blue
plastic no bigger than the head of a pin. “On one level, we’re
heartbroken and disappointed by this discovery,” said Monica
Arienzo, an assistant research professor at the institute and
leader of the investigation.
The iconic image of Lake Tahoe is of a clear, blue lake
surrounded by stunning snow-capped mountains. But that
picturesque sight could look very different by the end of the
century due to climate change. Those snowy mountains we’re used
to seeing could lose their white tips. And this would mean a
major transformation for life in Tahoe and beyond.
Before electric refrigeration brought cheap and available ice
in the early 20th century, ice was harvested along Truckee’s
lakes and rivers. Truckee’s cold mountain air and readily
available clear streams created an ideal environment for ice
companies to create and harvest ice.
For a moment as columns of sunlight drifted through the pines
with the cobalt surface of Lake Tahoe in the background, it
seemed as though the partisan rancor so characteristic of this
political moment might temporarily evaporate. But such
congeniality was short lived, if it ever lived at all.
The California Tahoe Conservancy had planned to get started on
their $9 million, multi-stage Upper Truckee River project to
restore and enhance over 500 acres of floodplain this fall, but
that has been postponed until 2020. They will be redirecting
the Upper Truckee River flows to a historical network of
channels through the current Marsh while creating new channels
for the river in the vicinity of the Silverwood neighborhood.
As the sun sets across Lake Tahoe, UC Davis researcher Brant
Allen and his team lower their sonar machine into the lake.
Thousands of little purple dots rise across the screen as they
cross the lake. … It’s not fish or Tahoe Tessie; it’s a horde
of tiny mysis shrimp, which researchers think have been making
the lake murkier since they were introduced in the 1960s.
During the past 107 years, daily air temperatures measured in
Tahoe City have increased. The average daily maximum
temperature has risen by 2.25 degrees Fahrenheit, and the
average daily minimum temperature has risen by 4.43 degrees.
According to the report, the number of days when air
temperatures averaged below freezing has declined by about 30
days since 1911, though year-to-year variability is high.
From the infamous “Garbage Patch” islands of floating plastic
to the guts of fish and bellies of birds, plastics of all sizes
are ubiquitous and well-documented in the ocean. But little
data exists on microplastics in lakes. If Katie Senft’s
preliminary research at one of the clearest, cleanest lakes in
the world is any indication, the problem is widespread in
freshwater systems, as well.
Litigation over water rights in western Nevada began as early
as 1864 on the Carson River and just a bit later the Truckee
River when the first retaining dam was built at Lake Tahoe’s
outlet. It was just the beginning of bi-state water wars
between the Silver State and California, a volatile conflict
that continued for well more than a century.
Lake Tahoe, with its iconic blue waters straddling the borders
of Nevada and California, continues to face a litany of threats
related to climate change. But a promising new project to
remove tiny, invasive shrimp could be a big step toward
climate-proofing its famed lake clarity.
Water is indeed the most precious natural resource in the arid
West and from that perspective it should come as no surprise
that water-rights issues on Lake Tahoe and Truckee River have
been at the center of negotiation and controversy since
pioneers first settled the region.
Lake Tahoe is the fullest it’s been in nearly two decades.
Officials say the alpine lake on the California-Nevada line is
approaching the legal limit after snowmelt from a stormy winter
left enough water to potentially last through three summers of
drought.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests, which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought, wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
Participants joined us as we guided them on a virtual journey into the foothills and the mountains to examine water issues that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts downstream and throughout the state.
For the third year in a row, Lake Tahoe is expected to fill.
This is noteworthy for the sixth-largest lake in the United
States that flirted with record-low levels amid a five-year
drought that ended in 2017.
Bonds to continue the next phase of an improvement program are
critical to the Tahoe Basin. That was the message delivered to
the Nevada Assembly Government Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
Assemblyman Mike Sprinkle, D-Sparks, said the $8 million in
this biennium’s bonding package will cover Nevada’s share of
the Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program for two years.
Voters in Washoe County appeared to reject WC-1, the
countywide measure to fund flood control projects along the
Truckee River. With 58 percent of votes counted, the
measure was losing 32 percent to 68 percent.
The Tahoe City Public Utility District and Placer County
officials celebrated the reopening of Truckee River Trail after
a summer-long reconstruction project. ”Trails are beloved
by our community, both our visitors and our residents and it’s
so critically important to our community,” said Cindy
Gufstason, chief executive officer of the North Lake Tahoe
Resort Association.
Nevada taxpayers will help technology giants such as Tesla and
Google pay for a 13-mile pipeline that will carry water to an
industrial park in Storey County. … “The Truckee River has
been one of the most adjudicated rivers in the Western United
States,” said former Southern Nevada Water Authority and Las
Vegas Valley Water District General Manager Patricia Mulroy, a
consultant on the pipeline project.
The situation on the Truckee River is similar to the one facing
many water managers across the West. In recent years, warming
temperatures and changes to precipitation have started to
affect the way snowpack falls, when it melts and how it
runs off into a river system like the Truckee, the lifeblood
for farmers and cities in an area that is arid and is expected
to become more so.
City personnel have removed a group of homeless encampments
along the Upper Truckee River. The abandoned homeless camps,
which according to the city consisted of trash and other
debris, were located in the Truckee River Meadow area behind
Motel 6.
After a November court ruling resulted in California State
Parks compromising restoration plans for the Upper Truckee
River at Washoe Meadows State Park and Lake Valley State
Recreation Area, the department has developed a new alternative
and is seeking public comment until the end of this month.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply
originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
We headed into the foothills and the mountains to examine
water issues that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts
downstream and throughout the state.
GEI (Tour Starting Point)
2868 Prospect Park Dr.
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670.
With Floriston rates, or rate of flow on the Truckee River at
Floriston, meeting the required mean flow of 500 cubic feet per
second, and Lake Tahoe’s elevation below the maximum of
6,229.10 feet, the Lake Tahoe Dam remained closed until last
week, which forced the two [rafting] companies off the water.
Lake Tahoe’s elevation was measured at 6,228.95 on June 26,
according to the Water Master’s daily report, with the flow
rate at Farad measured at 591 cubic feet per second.
Lake
Tahoe, the iconic high Sierra water body that straddles
California and Nevada, has sat for more than 10,000 years at the
heart of the Washoe tribe’s territory. In fact, the name Tahoe
came from the tribal word dá’aw, meaning lake.
The lake’s English name was the source of debate for about 100
years after it was first “discovered” in 1844 by people of
European descent when Gen. John C. Fremont’s expedition made its
way into the region. Not long after, a man who carried mail on
snowshoes from Placerville to Nevada City named it Lake Bigler in
honor of John Bigler, who served as California’s third governor.
But because Bigler was an ardent secessionist, the federal
Interior Department during the Civil War introduced the name
Tahoe in 1862. Meanwhile, California kept it as Lake Bigler and
didn’t officially recognize the name as Lake Tahoe until 1945.
Tahoe Resource Conservation District is three years into a
long-term aquatic invasive species eradication project on the
Truckee River — and the progress is encouraging. TRCD is
working to eliminate Eurasian watermilfoil from a 3-mile
stretch of the Truckee River, starting above the Tahoe City dam
and continuing down to Alpine Meadows Road.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply
originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, or TRIC, sprawls
across 107,000 acres of Storey County, a wedge of desert
mountains and plains just east of the Reno metropolitan area.
… It’s a modern-day land rush that begs an important
question: Where will all the water come from to serve these
corporate ambitions?
Tahoe City’s two rafting companies, Truckee River Rafting and
Truckee River Raft Co., are back in action after receiving the
call late on Thursday, Aug. 3, from Federal Water Master Chad
Blanchard that water would again be released from the Lake
Tahoe Dam.
As of Tuesday afternoon, lake level was at 6,228.18 feet, just
.92 inches from Lake Tahoe’s legal limit of 6,229.1 feet. The
Upper Truckee River was just shy of 8 ½ feet — about 2 feet
from flood stage.
The most powerful in a series of winter storms lashed
Northern California and Nevada on Sunday with heavy rains and
strong winds, causing widespread flooding, downing trees and
unleashing mudslides.
Here at the Gatekeepers Museum, onlookers see something that
until now has been a rare occurrences. Lake Tahoe at its
natural rim, slightly above as a matter of fact, to allow water
to overflow into tributaries — like the Truckee River.
A new federal study takes an in-depth look at how climate
change will affect the Truckee River Basin. The Basin includes
the Truckee and Carson Rivers, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe.
After more than a quarter decade of uncertainty, litigation and
deal making, officials announced Tuesday the Truckee River
Operating Agreement is finally in effect.
Decades of efforts pursuing a major overhaul in the way waters
of the Truckee River are managed reached a milestone Wednesday
when regional water officials agreed to a deal they said should
allow the plan to be operating by 2016.
In a further sign of a drought of historic intensity, flow from
a diminished Boca Reservoir into the Truckee River halted
Thursday. … The Truckee River Basin’s snowpack Thursday was
measured at 15 percent of normal for this time of year. The
Carson River Basin’s was at 1 percent.
For the second year in a row, Nevada wildlife officials are
releasing thousands of trout in the Truckee River a month
earlier than usual to give them a fighting chance to survive in
the cold mountain waters where they’ve spawned for centuries
but face increasing threats from drought.
Lingering drought has helped push Lake Tahoe’s water level
below its natural rim for the first time in five years, cutting
off flows into the Truckee River, which has been reduced to a
shallow stream as it meanders down the Sierra through Reno.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Nevada Water provides an
overview of the history of water development and use in Nevada.
It includes sections on Nevada’s water rights laws, the history
of the Truckee and Carson rivers, water supplies for the Las
Vegas area, groundwater, water quality, environmental issues and
today’s water supply challenges.
From it headwaters high in California’s Sierra Nevada, the
Truckee River flows into and through Lake Tahoe, continuing down
the Truckee River canyon to the Reno metropolitan area and then
across miles of Nevada high desert before flowing into Pyramid
Lake, 40 miles northeast of Reno.
The river’s 145-mile course takes it from alpine forests to high
desert sagebrush. (The portion of the Truckee that begins in
California in the Sierra Nevada and flows into Lake Tahoe is
called the Upper Truckee River.)
This issue of Western Water examines the challenges facing state,
federal and tribal officials and other stakeholders as they work
to manage terminal lakes. It includes background information on
the formation of these lakes, and overviews of the water quality,
habitat and political issues surrounding these distinctive bodies
of water. Much of the information in this article originated at
the September 2004 StateManagement Issues at Terminal Water
Bodies/Closed Basins conference.
