Water: Supplies and Wastes

"Water, water, every where ... Nor any drop to drink"  - Samuel Taylor Coleridge (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner).   Tahoe residents are very fortunate to have such a wonderful resource as the Lake, which serves as the critical focus for our communities.  The lake is a source of recreation, small amounts of food (fish), and of course drinking water.

But we can't safely drink the lake's water unless it's been purified or otherwise treated to remove dangerous bacteria and any other harmful agents that may have been detected.  Purifying water on a scale to serve the Tahoe communities requires that the towns (water districts) use various chemical additives, including anti-bacterial agents.  None of these chemicals are native to the Tahoe area.  Water purification and delivery to regional homes and businesses requires electricity to run pumps and purifying equipment.  In addition, purified water must be stored in large tanks, generally at higher elevations, so it may flow downhill to where it is used.

The short story is thus: we have plenty of water, but it takes energy and chemicals from sources outside the Tahoe region in order to pump and prepare the water so it's safe for us to drink.  Without safe drinking water coming out of the tap, residents would be required to purchase small purification systems or camping units in order to have access to safe water.  In addition: people would need to be careful not to get shower or bath water into their mouths or eyes.  Tourists would be quite reluctant to visit a region without reliably safe drinking water.

What happens to water when we are done with it?  We excrete it as urine in toilets and send the dish water, cooking water and washing water down the drains.  To the best of my knowledge, all of this waste water is piped away from Tahoe communities to larger urban areas in Nevada or California.  No waste water is recycled, ending up back in the lake.  Piping water away requires expensive periodic maintenance of the sewage systems and installation of components that are transported from distant locations.  It also takes energy to manage the wastes once they end up at a sewage processing facility.

It is considered unlikely that any Tahoe community would seek to build a local wastewater recycling facility "at the Lake".  Even if they did, it's very questionable whether a regional authority like TRPA, or other local communities would support the action.

If the Tahoe region is to become more sustainable in the long run, it will need to make an assessment of how much energy, chemicals and maintenance expense are currently spent on water purification and waste processing.  We would need to decide to what extent these services (safe drinking water, safe waste disposal) can be supported.  Assuming they are high priorities, we need to make sure that our communities generate the economic revenue to support current water and waste processing.  If such support becomes difficult to impossible in the future, we need to be ready to discuss alternative approaches to purifying water and safely recycling human wastes.