Spring runoff sending more water into Lake Tahoe
CARNELIAN BAY – Lake Tahoe is like glass – except where the storm pipe is draining.
It’s more like a manmade waterfall just off Highway 28 in Carnelian Bay.
Across the highway a stream is filtering down from the mountainside above. It drains under the road, continuing through a pipe that is just above the water’s edge. There, it cascades into Lake Tahoe.
Storm drains are on both sides of the highway to collect the runoff from the road, deliver it to the pipe and let it flow into the lake.
On April 19, white specs of “pollution” dot the surface. The water is shallow here, with the submerged rocks visible, albeit murky, from the road.
With a chance of thunderstorms on Friday, it could mean more gunk being carried into Lake Tahoe.
— Kathryn Reed
The roadside drain just above the lake, from left; residue floats on top; water drains directly into Lake Tahoe. Photos/Kathryn Reed
The “white specs (sic) of pollution (that) dot the surface” mentioned in the article and shown in the photo are NOT pollution. These specks of foam are the result of dissolved organic carbon, principally lignin, from decaying vegetation in the stream. The lignin reduces the surface tension of the water, allowing air to become entrained and creating the foam we see in the spring and fall. It is a perfectly natural phenomenon and should not be mistaken for human-caused pollution.
Wait a minute here – is this an otherwise healthy mountain stream that passes through a culvert under the road? If so, what’s the big deal about it?! Just because it passes through a culvert does not mean there is pollution introduced!
It’s about the crap from the roads — pollution is probably not the right word — that is being dumped.