New mobile watercraft cleaning station to help keep invasive species out of Lake Tahoe

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - It’s Invasive Species Awareness Week and there’s now a cleaning station that is the first of its kind that will be making its way around Lake Tahoe this summer.

The CD 3 Waterless Cleaning System is a mobile station for smaller things like paddle boards and kayaks. The League to Save Lake Tahoe and Lake Tahoe Invasive Species Program will take the station around the lake to see how big of an impact it can make. It’s also free to use and works in three easy steps- clean, drain, and dry.

The invasive species to look out for are the Curlyleaf pondweed and Eurasian watermilfoil. These are plants that spread easily. This cleaning station is completely solar-powered and allows you to clean off those aquatic weeds and head to your next paddling or kayaking adventure.

Jesse Patterson, Chief Strategy Officer for the League to Save Lake Tahoe shared,

“To keep Tahoe blue, everyone has to do their part. This is another way you can do that. We have millions of visitors every year coming, (and) we all need to do a little bit to keep Tahoe blue. This is a tool that will make that easier, hopefully fun, something that we will have out there for people to use so they know they’re doing their part.”

Dennis Zabaglo, Aquatic Invasive Species Program Manager with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, mentioned,

“It has a vacuum to suck up any water on board where these invasive species may live or any invasive plants it also has little tools to take it off if there is a clumpy situation of weeds on the keel or paddle.”

Organizers are also planning to take the mobile cleaning station to the surrounding locations of Fallen Leaf Lake and Echo Lake.

If you want to get a really good clean on your watercraft, paddle boards, and kayaks are free to decontaminate at the Meyers Water Inspection Station.

Copyright 2023 KOLO. All rights reserved.