Who does Lake Tahoe supply water to?

Quite simple: Lake Tahoe is operated as a reservoir for irrigation storage and municipal water use in Nevada. Together with a handful of other public and privately owned reservoirs in the Truckee River system, Lake Tahoe provides about 75 percent of the water supply for the rapidly growing Reno-Sparks area.



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All drinking water is pumped from underground aquifers through an intricate system of wells and water booster stations interspersed through the service area. No water is taken from Lake Tahoe.

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Where does the water come from? Rain and snow melt runoff from 63 tributaries in the 312 square-mile watershed adds 65% of the water. Another 35% falls as precipitation directly on the Lake. Typically, 212 billion gallons of water enter the Lake this way each year.

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The water in Lake Tahoe is of excellent quality, and our community treatment plants are designed to remove or inactivate microorganisms, meeting exacting standards .

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The Lake owes it extraordinary natural clarity mainly to its exceptional depth and volume, a relatively small watershed and favorable climatological conditions. In 2013, clarity averaged 70.1 feet, far less than the maximum 105 feet of clarity measured in 1968.

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Lake Tahoe's water is exceptionally clear due to several factors. The absence of major urban areas along its shores limits pollution and human activity. Additionally, the lake's geological features, including its granite basin, act as a natural filter, keeping sediments and contaminants at bay.

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Why is the Lake so blue? Tahoe's clean air and water are the keys to the Lake's dazzling blue color. The surface of Lake Tahoe is blue in part because it's reflecting the sky, but there is more to this phenomenon. Water as crystal clear as Tahoe's absorbs red light, leaving the rich blue color that we all see.

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Lake Tahoe, with its massive 744,600-acre foot storage capacity, should come very close to filling. (The top 6.1 ft. of storage above the lake's rim is used to provide river flows and drought reserves). This is a remarkable rebound for the lake which, in early December, was almost six inches below its natural rim.

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Nestled in the Sierra Nevada and straddling the California/Nevada border, Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States after Crater Lake, Oregon. Lake Tahoe is the fourth deepest lake in North America and the sixteenth deepest lake in the world. The maximum depth of Lake Tahoe is 1,644.1 feet.

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The research team says the lake's native zooplankton, which recently surged in population, is responsible for the change. The microscopic animal helps keep the lake clear by eating tiny particles that make the water cloudy.

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Compared to other lakes, Tahoe's cast of aquatic characters is fairly small. Among those you can see with the naked eye, there are several species of trout (rainbow, brook, brown and lake), the Kokanee salmon, crayfish, mysis shrimp, and a few other near-shore and bottom-dwelling fish.

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Is Lake Tahoe man-made? A. The formation of Lake Tahoe occured naturally over the course of 3-4 million years through faulting, volcanic activity, and glaciation. However, as a result of the dam (controlled by the federal water master) located in Tahoe City, the Lake is also a reservoir.

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If Lake Tahoe was completely drained, it would cover a flat area the size of California to a depth of 14 inches, but would take over 700 years to refill. Lake Tahoe is, geologically, a “young lake” having been formed 10,000 to 11,000 years ago.

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