Water Quality Working Group
Mission Statement: As partners working together to
address relevant water quality issues, The Lake Tahoe Water
Quality Working Group has been formed to foster coordination,
communication, unified direction, and appropriate decision
making within and between agencies, and to use limited resources
in a cost-effective manner for the purposes of protecting,
enhancing, and restoring identified water quality values in
the Lake Tahoe Region.
Objectives: The goals of the mission statement articulated
above will be fulfilled by striving to foster collaborative
efforts and by achievement of the following objectives:
- 1. The Group will improve communication between
water quality program members with regards to water quality
activities and programs (what, when, where, how?) to insure
that members remain informed, and understand these activities
and programs, and their limitations.
- 2. The Group will provide a place and/or opportunity
to be trained, to share and learn the technical
and research aspects of water quality.
- 3. The Group will coordinate, mobilize, and share
technical data and other information collected which
is related to water quality research, programs, projects,
and activities.
- 4. The Group will coordinate agency work programs,
and identify issues and needs.
- 5. The Group will insure coordination by organizing
the group into subgroups for the most efficient and effective
use of time.
- 6. The Group will define financing needs, and
identify current budget or capital that is committed and
available for projects; and the Group will identify
opportunities to coordinate and combine program/project
funding and resources.
- 7. The Group will define research needs and
priorities.
- 8. The Group will evaluate existing water quality
monitoring programs, identify where gaps exist, and establish
additional monitoring and feedback tools towards improving
water quality research, programs, projects, and activities.
A project effectiveness and evaluation program will be
developed.
- 9. The Group will integrate water quality improvement
efforts in order to improve efficiency and results.
- 10. The Group will develop a consistent set of goals,
objectives, and procedures as it relates to public outreach,
research, monitoring, and project development.
- 11. The Group will improve outreach to and inclusion
of the general public through common strategies/efforts.
- 12. The Group will provide recommendations to policy
makers based upon a comprehensive review of the water
quality issue(s) related to the policy being considered.
- 13. The Group will improve the attainment of regulatory
goals and shape the development of improved regulations
or regulatory programs.
- 14. The Group will define and articulate issues, needs,
and priorities towards improvement of project BMP effectiveness,
design, planning, and implementation.
- 15. The Group will develop project priority criteria
and identify priority projects.
Subcommittees
Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring
Program (recently combined with the RAM)
Mission Statement: To develop integrated water quality
research and monitoring strategies to support regulatory,
management, planning and research activities in the Lake Tahoe
Basin.
Objectives:
- Provide input and direction for coordination of Basin
monitoring and research programs. This will provide continuity
and minimize overlap and duplication of water quality
monitoring activities.
- Prioritize project water quality monitoring and research
needs.
- Provide monitoring and research information to user
groups in a timely and understandable manner.
- Assist monitoring and research community in identifying
demonstration projects that can be used to evaluate the
effectiveness of source control and water quality treatment
methods.
- Identify water quality baseline and current conditions
and long-term trends in Lake Tahoe, its tributaries and
groundwater.
- Assist agencies and groups in the coordination and
evaluation of water quality and restoration research and
monitoring efforts.
- Link monitoring and research efforts with project planning,
implementation, evaluation, and maintenance.
Remarks: Combined with the RAM under the LTIMP name.
Contact(s): Robert Erlich, LRWQCB, (530) 542-5400
Tim Rowe, USGS, (775) 887-7627, tgrowe@usgs.gov
Motorized Watercraft Technical Advisory
Group
Objectives: To focus research studies regarding the
effects of motorized watercraft on waters of the Lake Tahoe
Region for purposes of refining existing motorized watercraft
policies established in the Region.
Remarks: 1997 and 1998 studies completed
which concentrated on source, transport, and fate of common
fuel constituents. 1999 and 2000 studies to concentrate on
source, transport, fate, and ecotoxicology of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons.
Lead Agency: TRPA
Contact(s): Jon Paul Kiel, 775-588-4547
Status: Active.
Calendar: Meets monthly. No routine meeting schedule
established.
Stream Environment Zone (SEZ) TAG
Objective: Provide for a long-term focus on SEZ restoration.
EPA wetland grant tasks are to: 1) Evaluate urban runoff treatment
relative to SEZs; 2) Review drafts of the watershed approach
to evaluation of SEZ restoration needs, and their prioritization.
It is not the intent to duplicate specific SEZ restoration
project TAGs, but to coordinate efforts with some of these
to reduce the meeting load.
Lead Agency: TRPA
Contact(s): Larry Benoit, 775-588-4547, lbenoit@trpa.org
Status: Active, working on ID of urban runoff treatment
issues relative to SEZs.
Calendar: Monthly meetings to be proposed.
Lake Tahoe Source Water Group
Objective Summary: To coordinate state SWAPPs and
incorporate source water protection measures into TRPA's 208 plan.
Objectives: Because Lake Tahoe is a source of drinking
water for the basin, the USEPA has provided funding under
the Safe Drinking Water Act to TRPA to ensure protection of
public health. The Lake Tahoe Water Quality Management Plan,
also referred to as the 208 Plan, has served the region indirectly
towards the protection of drinking water sources for many
years. However, the 208 Plan is not focused on drinking water
quality concerns. Article I of the Tahoe Regional Planning
Compact requires the maintenance of public health values provided
by the Lake Tahoe Basin. Article V of the Compact states that
the regional plan shall provide for attaining and maintaining
Federal, State, and local water quality standards. This could
be construed to include drinking water standards.
The requirements of the Safe Drinking Water
Act are unclear where the development of source water assessment
and protection plans involve interstate source water areas.
The applicability of plans across state lines is undefined.
The Lake Tahoe Source Water Protection Program includes development
of a Coordination Plan that will follow the development and
implementation of state source water assessment and protection
plans in the Lake Tahoe Region. The Coordination Plan will
be developed using a watershed approach. USEPA is looking
for this Coordination Plan to serve as a model for application
to other interstate watersheds in the United States.
Project deliverables include the following:
- Coordination Plan
- Source Water and Contaminate Threat Regional Inventories
- Protection Plan
- Public Outreach Website
- Project Report
Remarks: The grant term has been extended to December
31, 1999.
Lead Agency: TRPA
Contact(s): Jon Paul Kiel, 775-588-4547, jpkiel@trpa.org
Status: Formal Source Water group meetings have concluded.
TRPA staff in process of completing program deliverables.
Calendar: No routine schedule at this time.
STPUD Groundwater Management Plan
Stakeholder Advisory Group.
Objective: STPUD Resolution No. 2683-98 justifies
the intention of the district to draft a Groundwater Management
Plan (GMP) pursuant to the Groundwater Management Act, Water
Code subsection 10750. The purpose of drafting the plan is
to adopt a groundwater management plan which aims to avoid
further contamination of drinking water wells by substances
such as PCE and MTBE.
Remarks: For purposes of drafting the GMP, several
subcommittees will be established and will meet independently
of the larger advisory group.
Lead Agency: South Tahoe Public Utility District
Contact(s): Dennis Cocking, 530-544-6474 ext. 208,
dio4pud@sierra.net
Status: Kick-off meeting and meeting to review GMP
framework held.
Calendar: SAG to meet first Wednesday of each month.
Lake Tahoe Sewer Agencies
Objective: To bring together the utility districts
and regulators to identify areas where sewer pipeline infrastructure
may be an environmental hazard to Lake Tahoe. This has included
a reconnaissance study by the Army Corps of Engineers and
an inventory of specific critical sites. Future activities
may include further refining priority areas and, in an effort
to save time and money, developing one environmental document
which can be used by all of the utility districts in implementing
specific upgrade or replacement projects.
Remarks:
Lead Agency: TRPA
Contact(s): Doug Smith, 775-588-4547.
Status: Subactive.
Calendar: Meet as necessary.
