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Volunteer to help monitor Tahoe/Truckee-area streams, lakes

Staff report

The 14th annual Water Quality Snapshot Day will take place Saturday, May 17, from 9 a.m. to noon throughout Lake Tahoe and Truckee. The Lower Truckee event will be held Friday, May 16, at the same time.

Volunteers are needed to help conduct nearshore water quality sampling and habitat assessments. The event is a citizen-based environmental effort designed to take a “snapshot,” one moment in time, of the water quality throughout the Lake Tahoe and Truckee River watershed.

Monitoring will take place from the tributaries flowing into Lake Tahoe all the way to the waters of Pyramid Lake.



“The goal … is to stimulate citizen interest and participation in local water quality issues,” according to a news release. “The information gathered by volunteers is compiled into long-term data sets on water quality conditions within the watershed.”

The event also is intended to provide baseline data that could be used in ongoing and future environmental projects, and to stimulate a large-scale collaborative educational effort, according to the release.



All volunteers meet at 9 a.m. Saturday for a quick presentation. The day should be completed by noon, with a free group lunch.

• Upper Truckee area volunteers meet at the Truckee River Watershed Council office, 10418 Donner Pass Road.

• South Tahoe volunteers meet at Lake Tahoe Community College.

• North Tahoe volunteers meet at Patton Landing (Waterman Landing) on Highway 28 in Carnelian Bay.

Volunteer teams, led by trained group leaders, will fan out to take samples and measurements at various locations. Teams will field-test streams for dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, pH and temperature; collect water samples for laboratory analysis of nutrients, sediment and bacteria; and conduct visual habitat assessments of the sites.

Team leaders are also needed. To sign up as a volunteer or team leader, you can register online at http://www.snapshotday.org.

The event is sponsored by the Tahoe Water Suppliers Association, Tahoe Resource Conservation District, League to Save Lake Tahoe, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, University of California Cooperative Extension, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Incline Village General Improvement District, South Tahoe Public Utility District, UC Davis and the Truckee River Watershed Council.


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