The South Lake Tahoe Monitoring Project was formed to assess the health of the local watershed in terms of water quality by examining legacy impacts of human disturbance, current watershed impacts, and efforts put forth to restore and protect the watershed. According to Rowe and others (2001) and Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring Program (LTIMP) results, the Upper Truckee River watershed has the highest nutrient and suspended sediment loads in the Truckee River watershed. Therefore there is aneed for water quality monitoring in the South Lake Tahoe region of the Truckee River Watershed. The South Lake Tahoe Monitoring Project works collaboratively with other monitoring agencies to coordinate efforts and share information. The project also functions as a local watershed stewardship and education group. With citizen monitoring, a bridge is formed between the gap of citizen involvement and scientific research. Monitoring gets citizens involved in the process and also educates them on what significant water quality parameters are and what influences them.
