Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Low water levels reveal Lake Tahoe’s hidden trash

The Loneliest Road: Lake Tahoe

Leila Navidi

The view of Lake Tahoe from Logan Shoals Vista on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011.

RENO — Broken bottles, rusted cans and jagged pieces of metal now cover Lake Tahoe's drought-plagued shores.

KOLO-TV of Reno reports that Lake Tahoe's water levels are a full six feet below maximum capacity, revealing trash that that has likely been embedded in mud for years.

With lake waters below their natural rim for six months now, cleanup crews have been scavenging shores to remove trash that is usually hidden.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe hits the beach several times a year for trash clean up, hoping to prevent trash dumped on the sand from entering the lake.

The crew's trip to Lake Tahoe on Sunday yielded 170 pounds of trash.

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