Peer Review of the Lake Tahoe TMDL

This page provides information regarding the external peer review of the Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load.

Release of the Peer Reviews on the Draft Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load

On August 17, 2009 the Lahontan Water Board staff received the final of five completed scientific peer review comments on the draft Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). These peer reviews were solicited to comply with California Health and Safety Code section 57004 and to help inform drafting the final proposed TMDL. The peer reviews will be included in the formal TMDL adoption record.

Also posted as hyperlinks, below, are the two memoranda between Lahontan Water Board staff and staff from the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), who served as the intermediary between the Lahontan Water Board and the peer reviewers to ensure independence. The request memorandum describes the elements and issues of the proposed TMDL for which scientific peer review was requested and identifies the scientific issues for the reviewers to address. The approval memorandum identifies the five reviewers and specifies additional guidance that was sent to the reviewers on the nature and scope of the requested review. Both the request memorandum and supplemental guidance were forwarded by SWRCB staff to each peer reviewer before the reviews began.

The purpose of the peer review was to gain expert analysis of the scientific portions of the proposed TMDL and to obtain the reviewers’ assessment on whether the scientific portions of the TMDL documents are based upon sound scientific knowledge, methods, and practices. Each review was performed independently of the other reviews and without interaction with any TMDL staff or other significant contributors to the proposed TMDL. The comments are those of each individual reviewer; therefore, the comments do not represent a consensus of the reviewers.

Please do not submit comments on the draft TMDL documents at this time. Staff from the Lahontan Water Board and from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) are working with Lake Tahoe TMDL Scientific Advisor to address the peer review comments and revise the draft TMDL documents appropriately. The revised draft, along with the proposed Basin Plan Amendment and environmental analysis is expected to be available for public review and comment in late 2009.

Peer Review

• Peer Review #1: Professor Patrick L. Brezonik, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota
• Peer Review #2: Professor Thomas M. Holsen, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University
• Peer Review #3: Professor William M. Lewis, Jr., Associate Director, University of Colorado Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
• Peer Review #4: Professor Menachem Elimelech, Department of Chemical Engineering, Yale University
• Peer Review #5: Professor John M. Melack, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Memoranda

• California Health and Safety Code for Peer Review
• April 21, 2009: Transmittal Memo
• November 12, 2008: Request Memo

Documents Provided to the Peer Reviewers

• Draft Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load - June 2009
• Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load Technical Report - June 2009
• Integrated Water Quality Management Strategy Project Report - March 2008
  • Appendix A
  • Appendix B
  • Appendix C
• Lake Tahoe TMDL Pollutant Reduction Opportunity Report- March 2008
  • Appendices

Major References not Copyrighted

• USACE (United States Army Corps of Engineers). 2003. Lake Tahoe Basin Framework Study: Groundwater Evaluation. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District.
• Simon, A., E.J. Langendoen, R.L. Bingner, R. Wells, A. Heins, N. Jokay and I. Jaramillo. 2003. Lake Tahoe Basin Framework Implementation Study: Sediment Loadings and Channel Erosion. USDA-ARS National Sedimentation Laboratory Research Report. No. 39
• Simon, A. 2006. Estimates of Fine-Sediment Loadings to Lake Tahoe from Channel and Watershed Sources. USDA-Agricultural Research Service, National Sedimentation Laboratory. Oxford, MS.
• CARB (California Air Resources Board). 2006. Lake Tahoe Atmospheric Deposition Study (LTADS). Final Report - August 2006. Atmospheric Processes Research Section, California EPA, Sacramento, CA.
• Tetra Tech, Inc. 2007. Watershed Hydrologic Modeling and Sediment and Nutrient Loading Estimation for the Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load. Final modeling report. Prepared for the Lahontan Water Board and the University of California, Davis.
• Adams, K.D. 2004. Shorezone erosion at Lake Tahoe: Historical aspects, processes, and stochastic modeling. Final report for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV. (attached)
• Adams, K.D. and T.B. Minor. 2001. Historic Shoreline Change at Lake Tahoe from 1938 to 1998: Implications for Water Clarity. Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV. Prepared for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. (attached)
• Sahoo, G.B., S.G. Schladow and J.E. Reuter. 2007. Linkage of Pollutant Loading to Inlake Effects. University of California, Davis - Tahoe Environmental Research Center. Prepared for the Lahontan Water Board. (attached)

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(Updated 9/28/09]