(KERO) — Water levels across California continue to drop despite recent rainfall with a new report says this year was the second driest in state history.
Water levels at Lake Tahoe are changing. Hour by hour, day by day, they're being tracked. A UC Davis researcher says it doesn't really start in the water, it starts on shore by what you wouldn't have seen years ago.
Algae, stringy seaweed, and sand where there should be water.
All signs that the water in Lake Tahoe is below the natural rim.
Researchers at UC Davis' Tahoe Environmental Research Center study the science that informs conservation.
Water isn't flowing out of Lake Tahoe and into the Truckee River right now.
One storm doesn't compensate for a drought and the hundreds of thousands of gallons of water that are lost through evaporation.
Take Emerald Bay: If levels continue to drop like they are now, boats won't be able to get through. These, now connected, bodies of water, would be on their own.
Water coming into shore the signs of lower water levels aren't lost on the people at the water here to take it in.
"I thought taking my friend out here and showing him what's going on at the lake right now, is pretty important, because it is part of our life," said Brittany Lewis.
