Aquatic pesticides may be used in Lake Tahoe
Chemicals may be one way to rid Lake Tahoe of milfoil. Photo/LTN file
The federal government has OK’d the potential use of aquatic pesticides at Lake Tahoe.
The decision affects the entire Lahontan Regional Water Board jurisdiction, which is a large swath of California running from the north to south.
The Lahontan board of directors in December 2011 had sought the amendment to the Basin Plan so these chemicals could be used in isolated instances. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision does not automatically give the green light to any and all applications, but instead the ruling approved Lahontan’s processes. The regional board will approve any use on a case-by-case situation.
“The amendment included specific criteria and requirements for individuals to meet to be considered for an exemption,” Lauri Kemper, Lahontan assistant executive officer, told Lake Tahoe News.
Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association wants to apply chemicals in the lagoons to rid the waterways of invasive weeds. Without this month’s EPA decision, those plans could never have happened. The South Lake Tahoe homeowners group will still have to apply for a permit with Lahontan.
Exemptions are also likely to be granted to vector control to rid areas of mosquitoes. While these applications already occur, they have historically violated Lahontan’s rules.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Then they need to close off both access outlets to the lake, this sickens me with what the Keys can get away with, like they haven’t caused enough damage to the lake already!
Aquatic pesticides in Lake Tahoe? What could possibly go wrong?
Oy.
The only good thing in doing this now while the water level is so low, it would take less pesticides.
YIKES, I hope the local environmental groups can stop this or look closer at the details for keeping the stuff from getting into the greater lake environment. These applications seem to fail alot or there are unusual circumstances than cause unforseen problems. We need to proceed with extreme caution when putting poison in our waterways.
What other avenues are available to rid the lake of invasives rather than pesticides? This seems to go against everything already in place. How is it we bend over backwards to “keep the lake clean” in every possible way and yet now it is okay to use chemicals/pesticides? I do not like this.
Fortunately the water companies, especially the ones who get their drinking water directly from Lake Tahoe, are against this. Let’s hope sensibility and caution prevail and this is not allowed. MTBE was promised safe years ago, look what happened.
Maybe they should get the guy who drank the Round Up at the city council meeting to test drink batches of water before it gets pumped to homes.
They MUST close off the keys when they do this. Stopping the majority of the water-flow is simple. This must be protested.