Sediment discharge in the Lake Tahoe basin, California, 1973 water year

Streamflow and fluvial-sediment discharge data are being collected at selected streams and highway gutters in the Lake Tahoe basin to determine the extent of erosion from highway cuts and to attempt to evaluate the effects of various land-treatment practices to reduce erosion. This is the second progress report. 

Precipitation in the Lake Tahoe area during 1973 was 94 percent of normal. Seventy-one percent of the total annual runoff during the 1973 water year occurred from March through June 1973. 

Sediment samples were collected during the year at streamflow stations and at gutterflow stations at highway cuts to define the range of transport conditions. The major part (74 percent) of the annual suspended-sediment discharge from streams during the 1973 water year occurred during the snowmelt runoff period, March through June.