Lake Tahoe has become a popular vacation destination. The surroundings are beautiful and people have gone there to get some rest and respite from their very busy lives. Unfortunately, tourism comes with a very high price.
People have gone to the lake to swim, but there some that unwittingly or purposefully left their trash behind. What was once a clear and pristine body of water is now home to tons of garbage that may eventually pollute the lake.
Something needed to be done about this, and fortunately, a group of divers have dedicated much of their time to clean the area.
Recently, a scuba dive team was able to finish an amazing cleanup effort for Lake Tahoe. It took them one whole year to do this and by then, they had been able to successfully pull up more than 12 tons of trash that have managed to submerged to the bottom of the lake.
The effort was organized by a nonprofit organization that called themselves Clean Up The Lake. The team involved had restored every inch of 72 miles of the crystal blue lake’s shoreline and sub-shore. They collected a total of 24,797 pieces of litter, and these weighed a whopping 25,281 pounds all in all.
In order to pull this off, the divers circumnavigated the lake. It wasn’t surprising that they collected the typical plastic and glass litter. Along with the usual trash, they also found lost wallets and engagement rings that must have been precious to the previous owners.
“Over the past year, despite winter weather, COVID, and wildfire related challenges, our dive team has been in the water at every opportunity to complete this unforgettable effort,” said Colin West. He is the founder and executive director of Clean Up The Lake.
As for the organization, that say that their “mission is to fight back against plastic and all forms of pollution in our global environment, both on land and under the surface, starting with Lake Tahoe and the Cayes in Belize.”
“Ultimately what we hope people remember is the length that one group of individuals was willing to go to in order to protect their home and their planet, and in turn people should ask themselves how they are choosing to contribute to preserving our environment today,” added West.
The project had become a reality with the help of a $100,000 matching donation from Tahoe Blue Vodka, The Tahoe Fund, and Nevada’s Lake Tahoe License Plate program, others organizations.
“I still can’t quite grasp what our team has accomplished,” said West. “Completing this 72-mile clean-up is a testament to what our team is capable of, and we are just getting started.”
The divers had also been able to collect vintage Nikon film cameras, lamp posts, massive pieces of broken down boats, engine blocks, and even cordless telephones.
The project has become a success and Clean Up The Lake plans to go further. They said that they will be performing cleanups across three other lakes this year: Donner Lake, Fallen Leaf Lake in the Tahoe basin, and the June Lake.
These 2022 projects don’t come cheap. Any additional funding will help. For those interested to do so, they can provide donations to the CleanUpTheLake.org site.
Furthermore, Tahoe Fund has commissioned the help of different artists so that they may be able to fashion a sculpture with the use of the recovered items they have with them.
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