Finally SNOW!

Over a century ago, our region was characterized by booms and busts in gold and silver. Now it’s water – last year hit the motherload with snowfall in the Sierra for the record books. This year – so far – has been a bust, with the second driest December on record in the northern Sierra – the driest for Reno in 130 years.
While Wetlab’s work is water quality, as a part of the region we’re all watching water quantity too. Reno and Sparks depend on the snowfall in the Sierra slowly melting in the spring and coming down the Truckee River. So no snow has some people concerned.

The first snow survey by the California Department of Water Resources happened just after the first of the year in the Sierra.
The results weren’t surprising to anybody looking up at the bare mountains above Northern Nevada: 21 percent of normal water content for Jan. 3, and 8 percent of where we want to be by April 1, according to the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

The National Integrated Drought Information System rates much of Northern Nevada between “abnormally dry” and “Drought – moderate” and the Northern Sierra to the west in “Drought – Severe” as of January 10.

The good news, according to the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, is there is still plenty of water for its customers, according to a report on KOLO News.
“We know we can withstand at least a nine year drought,” Senior Hydrologist Bill Hauck said to KOLO.

Last year’s huge snowfall helped, leaving enough water stored in Lake Tahoe and area reservoirs for the community, he said.
The dry spell could still effect Northern Nevada residents in the costs of food as scarce water has affected agriculture, according to the report.
And  the dry weather put firefighters on high alert during a red flag warning on Sunday when the wind picked up, according to the National Weather Service.
The culprit has been a large high pressure front blocking storms and sending them both to the north and the south since around Thanksgiving.
But things  have started to change this week, with a the high pressure front being displaced north and a cold front moving into our region, according to the Weather Service.

“A short period of light to moderate rain should spill into the most populated areas by late Thursday afternoon,” according to the forecast discussion. “The strongest storm is still on track to affect the region Friday thru (sic) Saturday. Confidence is quite high for a period of heavy precipitation in eastern California and far western Nevada as subtropical moisture plume with 1.5 inches PW values points straight at the Sierra.”

Let’s hope the trend continues as the winter progresses, and the winter turns into another strong one!

Here at WETLAB Western Environmental Testing Laboratory, water quality is our business. It effects everybody – from healthy drinking water to a healthy environment. But today everybody also needs to think about water quantity, not just water quality.

Water shortages are growing larger and becoming more frequent. The World Bank reports that 80 countries are experiencing water shortages and more than 2 billion people don’t have access to clean water, according to The University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The problem is the inevitable consequence of a growing world population – doubling the demand on water every 21 years, according to the University.

Most of us use know the basics of using water wisely – from not running the tap while brushing your teeth to making less water intensive choices when landscaping. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is aiming to up your knowledge on how to save water through easy education and simple guidelines, available at  www.epa.gov/watersense/.

Educational tools great for the whole family include a quiz titled “ Test Your WaterSense,” a calculator will let you figure out how much you can save at home, a guide shows you local rebates for saving and more.

Their guidelines for flushing, for example, could reduce toilet flush rates by 20 percent and urinal flush rates by 50 percent, according to the Green Education Foundation.
“If one in every 10 homes in the United States were to install WaterSense labeled faucets or faucet accessories in their bathrooms, it could save 6 billion gallons of water per year, and more than $50 million in the energy costs to supply, heat and treat that water,” according to the EPA.

Those fixtures and appliances have been independently tested for efficiency and performance to meet the EPA WaterSense standard.

And it’s already working, saving 125 billion gallons of water and $2 billion in utility bills in the last five years, according to Stephanie Thornton, as quoted by the Green Education Foundation.

Here in Northern Nevada, the Truckee Meadows Water Authority also offers guidelines for saving water and implementing assigned day watering for landscaping.
We’re in a high desert environment, subject to the snow pack of the Sierra Nevada, so while last winter may have left our region relatively flush, we never know what Mother Nature has in store for us in the next year.

In Southern Nevada, the Las Vegas Sun has set up a count down to when Las Vegas could theoretically run out of water (2021!) if water usage isn’t changed.

At the 15th annual Lake Tahoe Summit in Homewood, CA this summer, hosted by Senator Dianne Feinstein and attended by Senator Harry Reid, Senator Dean Heller, California Governor Jerry Brown and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, policy makers came up with an important plan for Lake Tahoe.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to restore the lake’s clarity to 97.4 feet by 2076, a lofty goal aiming for historic levels before runoff and pollution clouded the mountain lake’s clear waters.

Most recent measurements have the lake’s clarity – measured by lowering a white disk (called a Secchi disk) into the water and seeing how far down it can still be spotted – at 64.4 feet.

The plan, developed by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection, is called the Total Maximum DailyLoad (TMDL), capping the amount of pollution and runoff working its way into the lake – particularly from urban storm water runoff.
It calls for area jurisdictions – the City of South Lake Tahoe, the bordering county governments in both California and Nevada and their respective road departments, to reduce sediment going into the lake by 32 percent over the next 15 years – and that’s where precise water quality monitoring comes into play.
Not only do sediments and pollutants have to be monitored, but nutrients as well, which can cause algae blooms that dramatically cloud the water. The plan targets fine sediments (which tend to “hang” in the water rather than settling to the bottom of the lake), phosphorus, and nitrogen pollutants.
Top sources of those contaminants being targeted include urban and forest storm water runoff, stream channel erosion and atmospheric deposition.
When government agencies take steps like stabilizing and re-vegetating road shoulders and eroding slopes, street sweeping, better landscaping, runoff treatment and filtration, the creation of wetlands, the re-vegetation of ski slopes, and other projects – close monitoring will be necessary to measure success.
And success is critical, considering the plan could cost as much as $100 million per year for the next 15 years, according to the Lahontan regional Water Quality Control Board, so monitoring will insure that is money well spent.

From Aug. 16-17, WETLAB – Western Environmental Testing Laboratory is looking forward to attending the GEA National Geothermal Summit will convene industry and government leaders in one of the world’s most important geothermal business centers, Reno, Nev.  The event will feature a welcome address from the Honorable Bob Cashell, Mayor of Reno. Summit attendees will discuss key opportunities for the geothermal energy industry, as well as challenges to its success and growth.

Despite the controversy that has surrounded it since its inception, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has been the most effective funding funnel that Lake Tahoe environmental projects have ever seen. Hundreds of millions of dollars in environmental restoration work has been brought to the Tahoe Basin through Tahoe’s unique, bi-state planning organization.

Recently, however, the agency has been under fire like never before. A bill introduced in the Nevada legislature threatens to pull out of the agency if certain significant changes are not made to the way the agency operates. Just days ago, the bill passed the Nevada legislature, and it now awaits the governor’s signature to become law.

For background on the controversy surrounding the TRPA, and details on the Nevada bill that threatens to pull out of the agency by 2015, visit these links:

http://www.moonshineink.com/articles.php/0/2355

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20110607/NEWS/110609908/1056&parentprofile=1056

Do you work in environmental restoration, water monitoring or regulation at Lake Tahoe? What would the dissolution of the TRPA mean for your business? What are your opinions about Lake Tahoe’s environmental future without a bi-state planning agency?

To share your thoughts, look us up on Facebook and post your comments on our page.

Western Environmental Testing Laboratory

SPARKS OFFICE
475 E. Greg St, Suite 119
Sparks, NV 89431
Monday – Friday (8:00 am – 6:00 pm)
(775) 355-0202 – Phone
(775) 355-0817 – Fax

WETLAB’s objective is always to produce the highest quality data while providing our clients with superior customer service. Our client services staff is renowned for both meeting the testing needs of our clients’ and offering innovative and customized solutions. In response to the needs of many of our regional clients, we have developed niche products and services specific to Northern Nevada and Northern California.

WETLAB routinely provides comprehensive analytical support on a variety of matrices including:

• Wastewater
• Surface water
• Storm water
• Soil
• Wastes
• Rocks
• Groundwater
• Drinking water
• Sludge
• Filters
• Monitor wells
• Speciality Matrices (De-icing products, media, paint chips, etc.)

Compounds for which WETLAB provides services include:

• Metals
• Anions
• Low Level Nutrients
• MWMP Extractions
• Microbiology
• General Chemistry
• TCLP Compounds
• Priority Pollutants
• Mining Chemistry

If you would like a complete listing of parameters that we perform testing on, email us at ginger@wetlaboratory.com.

We perform testing to comply with the following programs in Nevada and California:

• NPDES
• RCRA
• SDWA
• CWA
• We also appear of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Approved Vendor List

Our quality assurance program ensures that data is produced in an accurate, precise, legally defensible, timely and cost effective manner. Our Quality Assurance Plan provides the structure, policies and responsibility for the execution of quality assurance, quality control and quality assessment programs. We have also developed Standard Operating Procedures for all of the methods and procedures that are performed in our laboratories. If you are interested in receiving a copy of our Statement of Qualifications or Quality Assurance Plan, please email Ginger Peppard at ginger@wetlaboratory.com.