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Underwater cameras capture spectacular Lake Tahoe ‘bubble curtain’

elisfkc2 / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

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    TAHOE, California (KOVR) — It is world-famous for its spectacular setting, and now people trying to protect Lake Tahoe’s beauty have added something new underwater to help keep it crystal clear: a “bubble curtain.”

Millions of tiny bubbles are pumped up from a line placed at the bottom of the Tahoe Keys. From up above you can see the bubble curtain in a V formation. The bubbles bounce out small invasive plants threatening to turn Tahoe’s crystal-clear blue water green.

“It would be easy to walk by this section of water and not notice this but in fact what’s happening here is pretty incredible,” CBS13’s Steve Large said.

“This has been a big accomplishment for us,” Tahoe Keys Property Association Water Quality Manager Greg Hoover said. “This started out with just a drawing on a napkin at lunch. I’m gonna put it as a success all the way through.”

The bubble curtain is also being celebrated by The League to Save Lake Tahoe, whose motto is to “Keep Tahoe Blue.”

Jesse Patterson is with ‘Keep Tahoe Blue.’ He brainstormed the bubble idea with Hoover.

“It’s actually an army of tiny bubbles, so it’s not just for champagne anymore right,” Patterson said. “It came out of some conversations probably at a bar, and some pictures on the back of a napkin.”

From a napkin to this solution. Bubbles corral the invasive plants growing in the Tahoe Keys property owners association and stop them from spreading and spoiling Lake Tahoe’s beauty.

“The idea really is to make sure the water out there stays blue,” Patterson said.

This small barrier of bubbles, its own stunning underwater show, is now protecting and serving Lake Tahoe’s world-famous beauty.

This bubble curtain has been so successful, at keeping invasive plants out of Lake Tahoe at the Tahoe Keys channel, there are plans to add three more bubble curtains this summer.

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