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DRI
Research Boat Launched on Lake Tahoe
The Desert Research Institute
launched a new research boat on Lake Tahoe early this spring, providing
an important new tool to support DRI’s studies of watershed
processes in the endangered national treasure. Dr. Ken Taylor, a
hydrologist and research professor in DRI’s Division of Hydrologic
Sciences, said the 21-foot craft—funded by private donors
to the Institute—is set up flexibly for installation of a
variety of types of research equipment required by different sampling
tasks.
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| Aboard the R/v Mt. Rose, Assistant
Research Hydrogeologist Todd Mihevc lowers an instrument to
sample Lake Tahoe water as Field Watershed Technician Rick Susfalk
pilots the new craft. Photo by John Doherty. |
An enhanced electrical
system handles multiple instruments and data recording systems,
with a boom on the side for lowering instruments into the water.
A probe on the boat’s bow allows collection of water samples
in front of the boat before the boat’s turbulence disturbs
the water. The propellerless water jet propulsion system enables
the boat to work in shallow shoreline water to identify locations
where poor quality water enters the lake from streams, storm drains,
overland flow, and groundwater.
The boat’s enclosed,
heated cabin shelters the instruments and operators during poor
weather. “This is particularly useful because some of the
research involves determining the influence of storms on the lake,
so we’ll be working in less than optimal weather,” Taylor
notes.
According to Taylor,
initial studies conducted last summer indicated that most of the
material contributing to the clarity loss along the shore appears
to be coming into the lake from a small percentage of the lakeshore.
The studies were funded by the sale of Nevada’s Lake Tahoe
specialty vehicle license plates and by the Lahontan Water Quality
Control Board.
“In the next year,
we will be trying to identify the specific locations of these problem
areas. This will allow environmental improvement efforts to focus
where they will be most effective. To accomplish this, we need to
keep the boat on the lake, ready to commence sampling on short notice,
to detect the influence of mountain storm conditions and the resulting
surface runoff along the shoreline,” Taylor explains. This
work is part of a larger program with the University of California,
Davis and the University of Nevada, Reno to determine how much undesirable
material is entering the lake and what the source of that material
is.
Taylor is hoping to enlist
assistance for DRI’s research effort in the coming year. “Tahoe
City Marina donated a slip to DRI for our old pontoon research platform
last winter,” he says. “We will be focusing on the south
end next fall and winter, and we are hoping someone in that area
will offer us a place from which we can operate the boat.”
Taylor asks that anyone who might be able to help contact him at
kendrick@dri.edu or (775)673-7300.
DRI scientists work alongside
researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno and the University
of California, Davis on a wide range of projects in the Lake Tahoe
Basin. For further information, visit DRI’s web site and read
the related articles: http://newsletter.dri.edu/2001/fall/TahoeChallenges.htm.
–John Doherty
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