It contains nitrogen and phosphorus and forms a rich fertilizer that nourishes algal growth which clouds the water and slimes shore-side boulders. It comes from the golf courses, the non-native lawns, the dust and particularly the sediment erosion. A cap of iron oxide keeps the phosphorus in place as long as the oxygen content of the water above it remains high. But algae uses oxygen and increased vegetation growth could lower the deep water oxygen enough to cause a sudden irreversible loss of clarity, Goldman said. Since 1960, development has eroded streams, dirtied the air with woodsmoke and auto exhaust and destroyed the Sierra Nevada's largest wetlands.
Wetlands are nature's filtration systems for trapping sediment.
Charles Goldman, scientist, and Steve Goldman, planner, confer. The Tahoe Keys, a marina and housing development built in the late 1950s where the Upper Truckee River flows into Lake Tahoe at its south shore paved over and filled in the mouth of the basin's largest wetland. Now the river runs brown and straight, thick with suspended solids, Charles Goldman said. On an aerial view he displayed to the conference, a plume of murky water spreads beyond the docks and boathouses of the Keys hundreds of yards into the lake. Conference-goers enjoyed stunning views of Lake Tahoe from Kings Beach pier.