Jason Kuchnicki

Restoring Lake Tahoe to its former clarity

Jason Kuchnicki is working to restore and conserve Lake Tahoe’s unique ecosystem. But his history with the lake stretches back
to when he was 16 years old. Kuchnicki was in Lake Tahoe for a skiing trip from his hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

“I remember riding up the ski lift at Heavenly Ski Resort, looking back at this amazing blue, huge body of water in the midst of its alpine panoramic backdrop, thinking ‘wow, this is incredible,’” he said.

He has since been attracted to live and work in the area.

As the Lake Tahoe Watershed Program Manager at the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP), Kuchnicki’s main focus has been to develop a science-based plan to restore historic clarity to Lake Tahoe. His efforts helped produce the Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), an effort to better understand the causes of Lake
Tahoe’s degrading water clarity, determine how much pollution needs to be reduced to reinstate historic clarity and to develop a cost-effective implementation strategy.

A steady trend of degrading water clarity and transparency is apparent in lake monitoring since the late 1960s. Kuchnicki, who has a background in geology and hydrogeology, co-managed the development of the TMDL, which the United States Environmental Protection Agency approved in August 2011.

“This research provided the foundation for developing a TMDL that was based on the best available science,” he said.

Kuchnicki said the TMDL is one of the most robust efforts of its kind, combining the work of respected scientists from a variety of research institutions and consulting firms from across the country.

The TMDL finds that fine sediment particles and the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorous degrade the water’s clarity. Fine sediment particles scatter light and nutrients fuel algal growth. Though they act differently, the effect is the same: less light enters
the water, making it harder to see into deeper depths.

Not only did scientists and environmental agencies identify which pollutants are most harmful, they also prioritized where to focus clean up efforts: urbanized areas. Rain and snow falls on impervious
surfaces like roads, parking lots and sidewalks where it cannot seep into the ground. Instead, fine sediments and nutrients are washed into storm drains and inevitably make their way into the
lake. A key source of the pollutants appears to be roadways. Transportation authorities apply traction materials to improve winter driving conditions, but cars pulverize the materials. The road may serve as an important source itself as vehicle chains break
down the road’s surface and the materials are washed into storm drains. Research to pinpoint the specific sources of the pollutants is currently ongoing.

NDEP and the Lahontan Water Quality Control Board have established a 65-year goal to increase the clarity of the lake from an annual average of 68 feet to nearly 100 feet. Now the problem of implementation confronts stormwater managers and scientists in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

“The next big step is to determine the most cost-effective implementation strategies and to prioritize where to target these actions,” Kuchnicki said.

He is currently working with the local governments on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe to develop load reduction plans to reduce stormwater loads in their jurisdictions.

“Restoring Lake Tahoe is a collaborative effort that involves the participation and cooperation at all levels, even down to residents and visitors of the watershed,” Kuchnicki said. “I think the reason we continue to have great success is because nearly everyone realizes what an important asset Lake Tahoe is, not only in terms of its extraordinary ecologic value, but as a recreation destination, drinking water source and asset to the local and regional economies.”