To save Lake Tahoe, add filtration systems

Lake Tahoe cannot be saved with errosion control and reduced traffic alone. That's because these measures do nothing in countering the thousands of tons of particulate pollutants being dumped into Tahoe by air currents each year from the very polluted state of California.

The haze you see hanging over the city of Sacramento, Calif., is an example of the pollutants that find their way from California's major cities to Lake Tahoe.

If you were to wash your car than check on it in one hour you would be able to see some of the particulate pollutants I am referring to, as in the fine film of dust that would have accumulated on your vehicle in that hour. The composition of which would contain microscopic pollutants from every source California has to offer .

It will be another 20 years before enviromental laws will have any appreciable effect upon the amount of pollutants carried by air currents from California to Lake Tahoe. In the meantime something more than political doubletalk has to be done if we're going to save the lake.

My suggestion is to treat Lake Tahoe as if it were a gigantic pool, but without the chlorine. Which would equal some major water filteration systems. And a sizeable year-round clean-up crew. We could filter out the vast majority of particulate pollutants along with hundreds of tons of algae each day as well. Then within 3-5 years we could have our lake back to how it was 30-50 years ago. It wouldn't be cheap but it would be money well spent.