Catchment-scale tracking – Pollutant load reductions are tracked at the scale of a water quality catchment rather than on a project-by-project basis. This approach is in contrast to most other EIP PMs, which are tracked in relationship to specific projects. This difference in approach is necessary because the currently available Tahoe-customized load estimating tools are scaled to the catchment so that they can provide the most accurate load estimates for urban jurisdictions. Catchment-scale tracking allows reporting of accomplishments under the EIP Stormwater Management subprogram but will not allow specific action priorities (e.g. Reducing Stormwater Pollution from Local Roads) to be resolved, because of limitations in the current reporting methods. Additionally, load reductions are only tracked for the urban portion of catchments; non-urban load reductions are not currently addressed.

Load reduction – The difference between the estimated average annual amount of pollutants entering Lake Tahoe under standard baseline conditions (as defined in the Lake Clarity Crediting Program Handbook), and the estimated average annual amount of pollutants entering the lake under current conditions resulting from water quality improvement projects.

Urban jurisdictions – These include counties, state highway departments and cities within the Tahoe Basin.

Nitrogen reductions are tracked annually by each jurisdiction, based on information from the Annual Credit Summary generated by the Credit Accounting Platform (CAP). Load reductions are calculated at the catchment scale.

This PM tracks load reduction achieved based on actual conditions and credits awarded each year, and not on estimated load reductions anticipated in the Catchment Credit Schedule. A project is reportable to the EIP when the catchment in which it is located is registered in the Accounting and Tracking Tool according to the guidelines described in the Lake Clarity Crediting Program Handbook.