Snippets about Lake Tahoe
• Trent Renner, Kevin VanKirk and Joe Forehand recently joined the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department.
• Would you like to show your support for your local library? Why not join the Friends of the Library? Stop by their monthly Feb. 20 at 1pm, 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.
• Caltrans has upgraded its website to give motorists access to planned lane closures on highways statewide. Real-time statewide route information is accessible online.
• A memorial service for longtime South Lake Tahoe resident Bert Lucido will be Feb. 2 at 1pm at St. Theresa Catholic Church.
• What happened to the millions of dollars that was spent in the Al Tahoe region of South Lake Tahoe? Here is info from the Tahoe Pipe Club:
http://youtu.be/fAPQbtzO1qE
wow !
Powerful video… Hope it was sent to trpa, cal trains officials, lahontan water, Diane Feinstein,s office… And shown at the public library. Thx for paying attn. also cc kboosman@trpa.org
Interesting video. Two questions. Real questions, honest.
1) Has anyone tested the water that flows from those pipes to see if it actually is “pollution”?
2) will the underground infiltration system at the school continue to work in 10 years? 20? Will it clog up with the fine sediment and have to be redone? Will it become a potentially dangerous sink hole?
Any of you science guys got answers?
Just went to the contech web site and they have storm filter media test results. Doesn’t look like it works for 16 micron fine sediment.
http://www.conteches.com/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?Command=Core_Download&EntryId=2818&PortalId=0&TabId=144
Hi All,
Hats off to the Pipe Club and Pipe Keepers for raising awareness of stormwater pollution issues at Tahoe. These are startling videos that may help encourage people to do their BMPs and think about the impacts of runoff into Lake Tahoe.
Dogula, “pollution” at Lake Tahoe is fine sediment, phosphorous and nitrogen. Fine sediment is measured by the cloudiness of the water (turbidity, which is measured in NTUs).
Taking the El Dorado Beach pipe across from Fremont Ave, the most shocking culprit of outfall pipes around the Lake, as an example, stormwater going into that system has been measured at 800 NTUs, and coming out at 8 NTUs. The Caltrans stormwater infiltration vault that was installed under the parking lot at Reflections Eyewear is infiltrating all the stormwater from that section of highway, but there are streets across the highway that have not been treated with stormwater yet.
These vaults such as the one at the school need to be vacuumed out regularly to continue to function and continual maintenance is required by the permit that was issued for the stormwater system. Sustainable maintenance of stormwater facilities is an important topic and the highway departments of the local governments and both states have developed innovative systems to keep these vaults, drop inlets and other stormwater systems cleaned out at a low cost. It’s had to imagine how much fine sediment is in our stormwater until you start collecting it.
The Pipe Club are not what they seem. Their policy is based on pseudocscience (and outright bad science), they misrepresent research and data. They are either poor scientists, or intentionally deceitful.
Don’t be fooled.