Water level dips at Tahoe

TAHOE VISTA - After peaking around mid-July, Lake Tahoe's water level is beginning to decline.

The Tahoe Vista Recreation Area launch will close Monday for the rest of the year as a safety precaution.

"We don't want anybody to get hurt or ruin their boat," Kathy Long of the North Tahoe public utility district said Thursday.

The Tahoe Vista launch opened in late June under a "launch at your own risk" warning, and the lake's low levels this year did not allow the Coon Street boat launch in Kings Beach to open.

In mid-July, the lake approached its highest level at around 6,224.7 elevation feet. According to U.S. Geological Survey statistics taken Thursday in Tahoe City, the lake's water level is at 6,224.35 elevation feet.

The lake's natural rim is 6,223 elevation feet; it fell below that level last October for the first time in five years as a result of a three-year dry spell.

The boat launch basin at Tahoe Vista Recreation Area was dredged this spring to the maximum depth allowed by Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board to allow for construction of courtesy docks.

Other boat launches around the lake are still operating. A spokeswoman with Nevada State Parks on Thursday said there is no timeline to close the boat launch at Sand Harbor, on Lake Tahoe's East Shore.

In Tahoe City, lake levels at the Lake Forest boat ramp, operated by the Tahoe City Public Utility District, present no challenge to keeping it open, said Parks Supervisor Roger Adamson.

"We're looking real good; you can pretty much launch anything that doesn't have a keel," he said Thursday.