Editing Lake Tahoe (section)

===Environmental protection===
[[File:Emerald Bay.jpg|thumb|left|Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe]]
[[File:Secret Beach - Lake Tahoe East Shore.jpg|thumb|left|Secret Beach on Lake Tahoe's Nevada side]]
Construction activities have resulted in a clouding of the lake's blue waters. Currently, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is regulating construction along the shoreline<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trpa.org/default.aspx?tabindex=1&tabid=40 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716131956/http://www.trpa.org/default.aspx?tabindex=1&tabid=40 |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |title=Construction Monitoring |publisher=Tahoe Regional Planning Agency |url-status=dead }}</ref> (and has won two [[Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency|Federal Supreme Court battles over recent decisions]]).<ref name="535 U. S. 302">{{cite court |litigants=Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency |vol=535|reporter=U.S.|opinion=302 |court=[[Supreme Court of the United States]] |date=2002 |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-1167.ZS.html |access-date=July 13, 2018 }}</ref> These regulations are unpopular with many residents, especially those in the Tahoe Lakefront Homeowners Association.<ref>{{cite web|title=About TLOA|url=http://www.tloa.net/pages/tloa-home/about-tloa.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426023044/http://www.tloa.net/pages/tloa-home/about-tloa.php|archive-date=April 26, 2012|publisher=Tahoe Lakefront Homeowners Association|access-date=December 6, 2011}}</ref>

The League to Save Lake Tahoe (Keep Tahoe Blue) has been an environmental watchdog in the Lake Tahoe Basin for 50 years.<ref name=bluehistory/> Founded when a proposal to build a four-lane highway around the lake—with a bridge over the entrance to Emerald Bay—was proposed in 1957, the League has opposed many development projects in the area, which it alleges were environmentally harmful. The League embraces responsible and diversified use of the Lake's resources while protecting and restoring its natural attributes.<ref name=bluehistory>{{cite web |url=http://www.keeptahoeblue.org/about-us/history |title=History of The League to Save Lake Tahoe |publisher=Keep Tahoe Blue |access-date=September 25, 2008}}</ref>

Since 1980, the Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring Program (LTIMP) has been measuring stream discharge and concentrations of nutrients and sediment in up to 10 tributary streams in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California-Nevada. The objectives of the LTIMP are to acquire and disseminate the water quality information necessary to support science-based environmental planning and decision making in the basin. The LTIMP is a cooperative program with support from 12 federal and state agencies with interests in the Tahoe Basin. This data set, together with more recently acquired data on [[urban runoff]] water quality, is being used by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board to develop a program (mandated by the Clean Water Act) to limit the flux of nutrients and fine sediment to the Lake.

[[Microplastics]] were found for the first time in 2019 by the [[Desert Research Institute]]. This pollution in the water could be local or from locations around the world as particles from discarded plastic products can be transported long distances through the atmosphere by wind, rain and falling snow.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-08-26/lake-tahoe-microplastic-pollution-detected|title=Microplastics are found in Lake Tahoe's waters for first time ever|last=Sahagun|first=Louis|date=August 26, 2019|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|language=en-US|access-date=August 27, 2019}}</ref> In 2023, updated measurements of microplastics in the lake revealed that Lake Tahoe contained some of the highest microplastic pollution concentrations found among 38 lakes and reservoirs measured.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nava |first1=Veronica |last2=Chandra |first2=Sudeep |last3=Aherne |first3=Julian |last4=Alfonso |first4=María B. |last5=Antão-Geraldes |first5=Ana M. |last6=Attermeyer |first6=Katrin |last7=Bao |first7=Roberto |last8=Bartrons |first8=Mireia |last9=Berger |first9=Stella A. |last10=Biernaczyk |first10=Marcin |last11=Bissen |first11=Raphael |last12=Brookes |first12=Justin D. |last13=Brown |first13=David |last14=Cañedo-Argüelles |first14=Miguel |last15=Canle |first15=Moisés |date=July 2023 |title=Plastic debris in lakes and reservoirs |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06168-4 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=619 |issue=7969 |pages=317–322 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06168-4 |pmid=37438590 |bibcode=2023Natur.619..317N |issn=1476-4687|hdl=10198/19283 |s2cid=259835082 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Cari |date=2023-07-14 |title=Lake Tahoe has higher concentration of microplastics than ocean trash heap |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-14/lake-tahoe-troubling-concentration-microplastics |access-date=2023-07-29 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Gregory |date=12 July 2023 |title=Lake Tahoe has alarmingly high concentrations of microplastics, study finds |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/tahoe/article/plastic-pollution-18189271.php}}</ref> Restoring the Lake Depths Foundation uses a BlueROV2 to survey the bottom of Lake Tahoe in an organized grid pattern to remove microplastics and trash.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dailey |first=Scott |date=2022-08-23 |title=Peninsula residents use high-tech 'gripper' to snatch junk from bottom of Lake Tahoe |url=https://climaterwc.com/2022/08/23/peninsula-residents-use-high-tech-gripper-to-snatch-junk-from-bottom-of-lake-tahoe/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Climate Online |language=en-US}}</ref>

The UC Davis [[Tahoe Environmental Research Center]] is dedicated to research, education and public outreach, and to providing objective scientific information for restoration and sustainable use of the Lake Tahoe Basin.<ref name=terc>{{Cite web|url=https://tahoe.ucdavis.edu/|title=Tahoe Environmental Research Center|website=Tahoe.ucdavis.edu|access-date=February 15, 2022}}</ref> Each year, it produces a "State of the Lake" report, assessing changes such as lake clarity, nutrients and particles, or meteorology around the lake.
[[File:Lake Tahoe Near Cave Rock.jpg|thumb|A view from the east shore of Lake Tahoe]]