South Tahoe Public Utility District Board of Directors Director Shane Romsos

Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of San Francisco, making it harder for the Environmental Protection Agency to police sewage discharges like San Francisco's discharge of sewage into the Pacific Ocean during particularly heavy rains. Though it sets a precedent for cities and counties to make their own decisions regarding permit changes, the South Tahoe Public Utility District will be maintaining their rigorous water quality standards to protect the lake and those who live here.

The South Tahoe Public Utility District works around the clock to provide our mountain community with safe, clean drinking water, water for firefighting and reliable wastewater services to protect Lake Tahoe.

While the water delivered to those living in South Lake Tahoe is guaranteed to contain no lead in it, the lines bringing H2O to your home could be leaching lead into it anyway. South Lake Tahoe Public Utility District recently put out a notice for residents to find and check their lines to ensure they're not made of either lead or galvanized metal, which could put people at risk for lead consumption.

As part of a nationwide effort to protect communities from lead exposure, South Tahoe Public Utility District is encouraging residents to help identify the material of their water service line. While no lead water service lines have been identified in South Lake Tahoe to date, residents with unknown service line materials are urged to follow five easy steps to determine the material their water line.

The South Tahoe Public Utilities Department held a stakeholders advisory group and public information meeting regarding how they deal with recycled water. The plan is open for comment from October 24 to November 11.