Fecal matter detected in water near Fresh Ketch
Sewage last weekend went from the Fresh Ketch into Lake Tahoe. Photo/Provided
By Kathryn Reed
Elevated levels of fecal coliform bacteria were found in the water where sewage flowed from the Fresh Ketch restaurant into Lake Tahoe for at least a 24-hour period that ended Saturday night.
Lahontan Regional Water Control Board today released results from water samples taken May 5. The highest measurement was 54 colony forming units (cfu) per 100 milliliters.
Lahontan’s standards are 20 cfu per 100 ml and not more than 10 percent of all samples collected in a 30-day period to exceed 40 cfu/100 ml.
Sampling done in July at the marina showed fecal coliform bacteria levels below 20 cfu/100 ml.
| Here are the May 5 results from testing at Tahoe Keys Marina | |
| Site | Colonies/100 ml |
| 6 feet lake-ward of discharge point | 29 |
| 6 feet lake-ward of discharge point – duplicate | 19 |
| 6 feet lake-ward of discharge point – average | 24 |
| 10 feet north of discharge point | 22 |
| 40 feet north of discharge point | 13 |
| 100 feet north of discharge point | 12 |
| 350 feet north of discharge point | 54 |
|
Lahontan Laboratory Technician: Lisa M. Petrusa |
|
More testing will be done this afternoon.
The risk of someone becoming ill is slightly elevated, according to Lauri Kemper with Lahontan.
She told Lake Tahoe News if people fishing or kayaking in the area get water on themselves that soap and fresh water is enough to wash away any contaminants.
The spill started May 2 when an overflow box behind the South Lake Tahoe restaurant failed. Sewage covered a back walkway near where the outdoor dining has expanded and then made its way into Lake Tahoe.
An employee at Tahoe Keys Marina said General Manager Robert Spinnato would never speak to Lake Tahoe News.
However, just moments after that a marina employee posted this comment on the two previous LTN stories regarding the spill, “The spillage was factual [stet] sabotage from a former Key [stet] Marina tenant who has just recently been evicted. Because of his eviction he purposefully stuffed plastic bags down the drain, forcing the pipes to malfunction.”
The truth of that statement is likely to come out later as the agencies continue their investigation. No matter what, the marina and restaurant, which are owned by the same people, allowed the sewage to spill into Lake Tahoe for at least 24 hours.
“We are trying to ascertain all the facts and are working with environmental health on corrective action,” Kemper told Lake Tahoe News.
Besides Lahontan and El Dorado County Environmental Health Department, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has also been involved.
“TRPA would want to see that some precautions are taken to avoid an incident like this in the future. In the case of the Tahoe Keys Marina, there is discussion of possibly a lock being added to the pipe,” Jeff Cowen, spokesman for the bi-state regulatory agency, told Lake Tahoe News.
TRPA violation processes and fines are generally only used when it is the lead agency on a discharge or other matter.
Thanks for staying on the pollution story Kae. All the other news outltets are silent. Remember to wash yourself after going in the lake and your dogs to! OLS
This was the so-called “Big Story” on Channel 2 TV (Reno) News tonite at 5 PM. They advised more details would be forthcoming at 6:30 tonite.
Bury The Keys Campaign
Well “the Big Story” on channel 2 was pretty brief. Now they are saying the spill was maybe a couple of quarts and there is no cause for alarm. Like I suggessted earlier, “put the spin machine on warp drive”. So this raw sewage spill into the lake is going to be swept under the rug, like so many things in Tahoe.
The felon that owns the marina also is suspected of having donated $2,500 to Hal Cole’s campaign a few years back,(not sure if thats true). But very interesting none the less.. The manager of the marina also has a criminal history. What could possibly go wrong?
So I guess it’s business as usual in good old So. Lake Tahoe! OLS
The employee @ the Marina that disputed the 2 previous story’s was doing so on direct orders from GM Spinnato. First it was plastic bags flushed down the toilet then it was plastic bags stuffed in a pipe . Only the plumber knows (maybe). The real deal here is that it went on for at least 24 hrs. Before it was reported by a stranger not a marina employee. Spinnato should focus on his job instead of trying to sell sun glass straps or bragging about how rich his daughter is going to make him playing tennis. As for the marina employee he is known around here as Lord Of The Flies
I wonder if this entire incident, clearly a hazmat, was reported to authorities under 25502 of the California Health and Safety codes? The section is a typical legalese conundrum, but my recollection (and a life long neck injury based on my participation in one – although that’s largely off topic) is that the Fire Department is responsible for overseeing the cleanup in the interest of public safety while the Police Department, despite the mandates of the Incident Command System, is responsible for directing the whole mess, otherwise known, in police lingo, as ” the scene.”
Kae rarely misses details, but I can’t help but wonder what roll the local public safety agencies have played in protecting the public from the toxic risks?
And, of course, the follow up question is whether the outsiders brought in to manage the South Lake Tahoe public safety agencies answer to the politicians or to their own professional and ethical standards that they presumably learned elsewhere. As well as the mandates of the law.
If you were an outsider interviewing in South Lake Tahoe for a job directing a public safety agency, would you answer questions based on your understanding of professional ethics and standards, or based on your understanding of what the politicos are looking for? And which approach would the current politicians hire?
And which have they hired?
Always something going to “make Spinnato” rich. In fact, remember his wife works at Chase realtors. As for Krolic, he and his family are just scum…. not my words, I believe it was a judge in either Vegas or Chicago. Available and exact quote can be found online. Didn’t know about spinnato’s past criminal history, but again, no surprises there.
Just a comment so the interested parties don’t spend to much energy going down wrong trails.
The Tahoe Keys Marina, aside from the namesake Keys has nothing to do with the Tahoe Keys residential developments, operated by the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association.
I am no fan of either one, but forget about filling it in and returning it back into a wetland. That is not going to happen until….drumroll….we have a sufficient seismic event to shake the fill material enough to liquify some of it, and the steel bulkheads that hold the dirt under most of the houses back also fails. Mass condemnation could follow, and then maybe it gets filled in and a swamp happens again.
The bulkheads are 50 or 60 years old, and not in the best of shape…. and I don’t know if they have ever had a reliable inspection plan or repair plan.Just look at the already failing
spots in the channel leaving the Keys Marina, across from the Tahoe Marina Shores condos.
Talk about an unfunded liability.
However, the City and County would fight this tooth and nail, as it would put a huge hole in the tax base, as even the doggy condos are selling for 300 to 400K. Probably, the Keys are one of the County’s most “tax revenue dense” areas outside of El Dorado Hills.
Observer, Yes, I know that the Keys will never be returned back into anything resembling to what it originally was as the Truckee Marsh, (maybe). But you do bring up an interesting point about the bulkheads which hold up the soil and keep the whole thing, houses and all, from sliding into the water.
Years ago we had a small earthquake on the north shore and it was felt here as well. I talked to a few people on Beach drive in the keys. They described it as a slow rolling sort of motion. Because all of those homes and streets are built on landfill they are subject to what’s called liquefacition. This happened to people in parts of San Francisco during their last good sized shaker.
The bulkheads in the marina were put in at the same time period as the homes and the lot of them are really showing their age.
So who knows, maybe Mother Nature will reclaim what was once hers. I don’t want anybody hurt, just the marsh going back to what it was. OLS