Study: Lake Tahoe water may turn from clear blue to murky green in a decade

[Newsjock]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

The jewel of the Sierra could be worse off than previously thought.

In a new study, researchers at the University of California at Davis predict that climate change will irreversibly alter water circulation in Lake Tahoe, making it less hospitable to some native plants and fish, and it will happen sooner than most people expected - in little more than a decade.

Global warming is already causing warmer lake temperatures along the shoreline, and is likely to continue to cloud up the cobalt waters that attract tourists from all over the world. However, the most recent news came as a shock to even the researchers.

"This is one of the early indicators of what climate change can do to freshwater supplies nationwide," said Geoffrey Schladow, director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center who assisted with the study. "Our lakes and reservoirs, what we depend on for our very existence, are going to change. They're going to change possibly in their appearance, but more importantly in the quality of the water."

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8684690

[tom_paine]

1. Progress. n/t

[earth mom]

2. Progress? WTF? More like TOTAL DEVASTATION!

You obviously have never been to Tahoe. It is one of the jewels of this country.

:cry:

[sce56]

3. I think he forgot the

:sarcasm:

[earth mom]

4. Let's hope so. nt

[trumad]

8. Uh, his handle is Tom _Paine

of course he was being sarcastic and if you couldn't figure that out.... well....

[Tesha]

16. Some of us assume that the reader can detect sarcasm on their own. (NT)

[sandnsea]

5. I was there as a kid in the 60's

I can't even stand how crowded and polluted it is now, let alone with the water completely ruined too. I just can't stand what we're doing to the planet.

[tom_paine]

12. Actually, I have hiked extensively in the S. Lake Tahoe area. Snowshoed a little, too.

It WAS magnificent, wasn't it?

I still can close my eyes and see the mighty sweep of a view from the top of Mt. Tallac in Desolation Wilderness.



It is, of course, a hideous tragedy. But as if I had lived in Germany 1936, I have long ago become inured to tragedy, irony, insanity.

I am happy I got to see it. If you have a chance, go soon before the impacts spoken of in this article and others strike. See it while you can. But be in shape for the hike up Tallac. It's a steep switchbackey gutbuster of a hike!

[earth mom]

13. Tahoe is one of favorite places-I even lived there for awhile.

Sorry to jump on you like that-just a knee jerk reaction to the such a hellacious tragedy. :cry:



:hi:

[tom_paine]

14. No problem

:hi:

[XemaSab]

6. Yeah, let's blame climate change

instead of pollution from TOO GODDAMNED MANY PEOPLE in the area. :banghead:

[trumad]

7. Uhhh---pollution---climate change?

doesn't one factor into the other.... er...yes.

[harmonicon]

9. aren't the two things intrinsically tied? NT

[DRoseDARs]

10. Yes and no. Climate can change without Humans and has done so since liquid water first rained down.

Lake Tahoe's problem is mostly with runoff, which affects the clarity of the water but not so much the temperature of the climate. Obviously, Humans can influence climate change, but we aren't a prerequisite for it.

[XemaSab]

11. I concur with reply 10

and I'll add that right now we basically can't do anything about climate change, but we CAN do something about runoff, so blaming climate change is a total cop out.

(edit: I KNEW that word didn't look right BEFORE I hit post :banghead: )

[Barrett808]

17. Another Global Warming Threat: Toxic Algae Blooms in Water Supply

The issue with running out of water is that what looks like a relatively low but sustainable supply turns toxic as algal blooms grow in the warm water drop toxins. So even where volume of water available is not a major issue yet, the toxins from the algae are seeing supplies becoming unusable very rapidly. This is a global problem and is hitting big cities.

Sydney is recognising the issue exists but is still head-in-the sand about the potential rapidity of a turnover of the water quality. Algal blooms are not called blooms for nothing – they can happen over a sunny afternoon to an entire water body.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Algae-covering-most-of-Warragamba-Dam/2007/09/27/1190486462486.html
September 27, 2007
The layer of blue-green algae on the surface of Warragamba Dam - Sydney’s main water supply - now covers 75 per cent of the surface area and is likely to remain all summer…
…”It is not a health risk whatsoever, even though part of the rigorous testing that Sydney Water and Health undertake has detected some microsystems - which are a group of molecules which contain some toxicity…
But the toxicity is well documented as being acute…

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10468612
3:20PM Monday October 08, 2007
Toxic blue-green algae had already killed dogs, sheep and cattle that drank from the lake, Dr Barbara Dolamore, a Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) senior lecturer in biochemistry and molecular biology, said today.

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/10/08/Drinking_water_advisory_in_Dunes_City_to_stand/?section=StoryResults&template=cheetah-search%2Findex.txt
Drinking water advisory in Dunes City to stand
October 08, 2007

Residents near Siltcoos Lake who draw their drinking water from the lake are being told it will be at least another week before they can use their main source…
…rather than collapsing as hoped, algae levels are actually holding steady...

(more)

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/10/spanish-perspectives/#comment-58612

(Cross-posted from RealClimate.)

[noonwitch]

15. Just give them some zebra mussels!

They clog up boats and docks in the Great Lakes, but they do make the water clear.