Volunteer divers clean up Sasamat Lake
Credit to Author: Glenda Luymes| Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2019 23:18:21 +0000
PORT MOODY — The calm, cold waters of Sasamat Lake are not easily confused with a garbage dump. But without a dedicated group of volunteer divers, that’s exactly what they could become.
As the sun burned the mist off the Port Moody lake on Saturday morning, four volunteer scuba divers collected 100 kilograms of trash from beneath the floating footbridge that crosses from one forested shore to the other. It was their second dive here this year, their sixth year in a row.
“Most of this is from the summer,” said diver Henry Wang, gesturing toward several large mesh onion bags filled with bottles and cans collected from the lake bottom. “This is the second-most polluted lake that we visit, so I’m not really surprised by it anymore.”
Wang may have grown accustomed to finding garbage under the surface of some of B.C.’s most beautiful lakes, but it hasn’t made him complacent. He’s started posting videos of his dives to YouTube in an effort to get people to change their ways. In a video taken in September, he pleads with visitors to Cultus Lake in Chilliwack to “do better” after cleaning up a popular cliff-jumping area.
He has a similar message for the people polluting Sasamat Lake. On each side of the bridge, about 100 steps from the centre in either direction, is a big metal garbage bin with separate receptacles for recycling and compost.
“Please pack out what you bring in,” said the diver. “Use the garbage bins. If you brought it here, don’t leave it here.”
Wang has been diving for garbage since 2013. Along with his friend Jonathan Martin, he started Divers for Cleaner Lakes and Oceans after seeing the problem firsthand during a dive at Buntzen Lake. Since then, the group of about 20 volunteer divers has collected more than 13,000 kilograms of garbage from B.C. lakes.
Working with B.C. Parks and Metro Vancouver Parks, Wang tries to organize dives at popular lakes, like Sasamat, twice a year to keep up with the trash. While some of the items seem to have been unintentionally lost in the lake, like cell phones and sunglasses, others were likely discarded intentionally.
“When you see the crushed cans, you know that someone took the time to crush it before they threw it into the water,” he said.
Diver Otto Wille brings up bags of trash from beneath the floating footbridge on Sasamat Lake in Port Moody on Saturday, October 26, 2019.
Wang was underwater for about 42 minutes on Saturday. Three other divers, including Karen Wille, Otto Wille and Dennis Chow, spent a similar amount of time in the frigid water. Together, they pulled up 220 beer cans, 126 beer bottles, 22 pairs of sunglasses, seven cell phones, a couple swimsuits, a lawn chair and a bong.
“When you first get down there, you see all the garbage,” said Karen Wille. “As soon as you touch it, the water is filled with silt, and it’s very hard to see. You have to put your hands in the mud and go by feel.”
When Chow surfaced he was tangled in fishing line. Wang emerged from the deep to cheers and a smattering of applause from passers-by who stopped to see what was happening.
The divers weighed the garbage bags before dumping it out on the dock for sorting and counting.
Volunteer divers pulled 219 lbs of trash from Sasamat Lake in #PortMoody today. It’s their second dive here this year and the garbage keeps accumulating. @VancouverSun @theprovince pic.twitter.com/N1JW2ZXemT
Wille said she volunteers to collect garbage because as a scuba diver she’s passionate about the health of B.C.’s waters.
“It saddens me,” she said. “It’s 2019. You think we’d know better.”