Stormwater

Here is a list of road projects around the Lake Tahoe basin.

U.S. Highway 50 (El Dorado County) from the junction with State Route 89 to 2nd Street in South Lake Tahoe: Eastbound motorists can expect alternating lane closures from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday for gas line relocation work. Eastbound motorists can also expect the right shoulder closed at the same location from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for trenching.

Here is a list of road projects around the Lake Tahoe basin.

U.S. Highway 50 (El Dorado County) from the junction with State Route 89 to 2nd Street in South Lake Tahoe: Eastbound motorists can expect alternating lane closures from 5 p.m. to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday for gas line relocation work.

In July of 2014, a packed house was at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Board Meeting (TRPA). The crowd, made up mostly of those in the Lake Tahoe real estate profession, were there to voice their concern about a proposal before the board to require completion of Best Management Practices (BMPs) by the time a home sold or the title would not be cleared until completed.

The real estate brokers and agents said they didn't find it appropriate that they should be the enforcing arm of TRPA.

All bids for the final phase of the Sierra Tract Erosion Control Project may be rejected during Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Originally, Vinciguerra Construction was awarded the project even though their bid wasn't the lowest. The City felt the lowest bid, submitted by Burdick Excavating Company, didn't meet all of the federally required regulations (required due to federal financing).

The University of California, Davis and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency recently released their yearly water clarity readings for Lake Tahoe. The good news: Mid-lake water clarity improved significantly in 2014, with an average reading of 77.8 feet. That’s 7.5 feet greater than the average reading for 2013, and almost 14 feet greater than the 64.1 feet measured in 1997, Lake Tahoe’s lowest recorded clarity.

While the summertime tourist to South Lake Tahoe should only be slightly affected, business owners along Highway 89 are worried about their livelihood with overnight road construction and blocked driveways.

During Thursday evening's Caltrans informational meeting at South Tahoe High, several owners of lodging properties, restaurants, sports and retail stores spoke about their concerns during the project which will last from mid-April to mid-October in 2015 and could even extend into the 2017 building season.

A Tahoe Talks Brown Bag Lunch Series recently launched offers a monthly forum for people to discuss and learn more about ways to strengthen communities, make towns safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, and help protect Lake Tahoe’s amazing natural resources.

Lunches are held monthly at Lake Tahoe Community College. They cover topics ranging from transportation to the economy and the environment, and offer a comfortable, low-key setting for people to discuss and learn about those issues. The events are free to the public.

Jesse Patterson of the League to Save Lake Tahoe will be the guest speaker during March Tahoe Talks. He will speak on "Volunteer Monitoring: How to Facilitate Change through Observation."

The City wants to recover some of the fees involved in the enforcement of a state mandated stormwater program which requires them to ensure commercial businesses are not discharging waste or pollutants into the storm drain system.

Keeping grease, oil and other contaminants out of the system is the goal of the program. Jason Burke, the City's Stormwater Program Coordinator, told the City Council on Tuesday that he will provide outreach and education to the high profile businesses that use grease and oil on a daily basis.

The California Tahoe Conservancy Board unanimously voted today to award Sierra Business Council (SBC) $50,000 to expand and enhance the Lake Tahoe Water Trail.

The Lake Tahoe Water Trail is the 72-mile scenic paddling route around the shore of Lake Tahoe. SBC plans to improve trail maps; increase wayfinding, trailhead signage, and outreach and education; launch a Lodge-to-Lodge Network; and establish a new Oversight Committee to develop a business plan to create a more sustainable program.

On Tuesday the South Lake Tahoe City Council will vote on one person to serve on the TRPA Advisory Planning Commission. Gary Bowen, Carmen Delgado, Tiffany Good, Amanda Thomason and Scott Weavil would all like to serve the two year term.

Also on the agenda will be discussion about the Tahoe Valley Area Plan, a presentation about the raising of fees for stormwater treatment inspections to cover the cost of mandated programs, discussion on the CalTahoe JPA (ambulance service on the South Shore) and review the pay of the City Treasurer.

When reflecting over the past year it's hard to remember all that happened in one's life, unless you're good at keeping a journal and you have time to re-read it.

As I look back at what happened in South Lake Tahoe over the last 365 days, a lot happened, but what may seem to be a top story to me may not seem as important to a reader.

I reviewed our analytics, the numbers that are kept to show how many people read South Tahoe Now stories at any given point, and drew from those numbers to come up with the "South Lake Tahoe's Top Stories of 2014."

The public will have a chance to learn about agency efforts to address stormwater pollution and get involved at a stormwater symposium on December 10 at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Location

As the keynote speaker at last month’s National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation in Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell emphasized the central role collaboration must play for America to protect its natural resources, balance economic needs, and address emerging environmental challenges such as climate change.

“We are moving into an era of epic collaboration,” Jewell said, explaining that regional partnerships across jurisdictional boundaries are more important than ever for the federal department that manages 20 percent of our nation’s land.

If you've driven through the Bijou area of South Lake Tahoe over the last couple of years you know that it's been undergoing a major stormwater treatment transformation with the replacement of pipes and the addition of water treatment chambers.

The City of South Lake Tahoe held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, celebrating the near completion of the project which is treating stormwater runoff from 42 acres within the Bijou Commercial Core area, preventing 21,000 pounds of fine sediment particles from reaching Lake Tahoe each year.

Volunteers have completed marking all the storm drains in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood and marina with metal “No Dumping — Keep Tahoe Blue” signs. Over 40 volunteers with the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s Stewards of Stormwater program marked 180 drains over several days in August and September, making it the first neighborhood at Tahoe to mark all its drains.

People coming into the basin to attend the annual Lake Tahoe Summit on Tuesday will find new signs on the three Nevada entrances: Kingsbury Grade (State Route 207), Spooner Summit (U.S. Highway 50) and the Mt. Rose Highway (State Route 431).

The signs read, “Entering the Lake Tahoe Watershed — Help Protect It!” They were put up to remind everyone passing by them that Lake Tahoe is a special place that needs protecting by everyone coming to visit (and those who are already here).

A unanimous vote by the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Tuesday paved the way for the formation of a Community Facilities District (CFD) in the Bijou area which will have a major impact on Lake Tahoe's water quality.

The $18M water project improvements include replacement of the failing Bijou Creek storm drainage culvert and construction of a regional storm water treatment system for the 42-acre Bijou commercial core project area. It will provide a third of the pollutant load reduction in the City's municipal stormwater system.

A $2.8M Proposition 84 grand was received by the City of South Lake Tahoe’s Engineering Division yesterday. The Round 2 grant will correct erosion control issues in the Sierra Tract neighborhood.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe is inviting the public to its first Pipe Keepers Public Forum on April 17 at the Blue Angel Café in South Lake Tahoe, featuring five regional experts who will discuss stormwater problems and solutions in the Tahoe Basin. The event will feature free food and drinks, a free raffle, expert presentations and a question and answer session.

With support from California Proposition 84 stormwater grant funds, the Tahoe Resource Conservation District (Tahoe RCD) is leading the effort to measure pollutants in urban runoff at Lake Tahoe to help evaluate the combined effectiveness of pollutant control measures and consistently track and report monitoring findings. This effort, known as the Regional Storm Water Monitoring Program (RSWMP) is a collaborative program supported by regulatory agencies, local government representatives, and scientists in the Lake Tahoe region.

The City of South Lake Tahoe's vision to recreate a community that encourages revitalizing commercial and residential areas got one step closer today with the TRPA's adoption of the South Lake Tahoe Tourist Core Area Plan. The area involved is the Highway 50 corridor from Fairway Ave at Bijou, up and down Ski Run Boulevard, and up to the Stateline.

Outdated development and pollution in the core of South Lake Tahoe could be on their way out with the adoption today of the City of South Lake Tahoe Tourist Core Area Plan by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Governing Board.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) is currently reviewing the opening brief filed by regional plan litigants who, according to the Agency, are continuing their misinformation campaign about the updated environmental plan that is supported widely by environmental advocates, business groups, and state and local leaders.

Lake Tahoe property owners and contractors can now design their own residential BMPs (Best Management Practices) with a free online tool provided by the TRPA.

BMP Designer is a GIS based tool found on the agency's Stormwater Management Program's website.

In order to utilize the BMP Designer, users should have knowledge of their property’s physical characteristics including:

• The direction water flows on the property
• Where utilities are located (always call 811 prior to digging)