Just how much trash is lurking under Lake Tahoe’s surface?
Nobody knows – but it will be a lot less after a multi-month cleanup effort to clear rubbish from the lake’s bottom.
Starting May 14, teams of professional and volunteer scuba divers will circumnavigate the lake’s 72 miles of shoreline to remove trash.
With divers covering about a mile of shoreline per day and working three days per week, the cleanup effort should take about six months, according to Colin West, founder of Clean Up The Lake, the nonprofit organization spearheading the effort.
“I imagine this is the largest cleanup in Tahoe’s history. There really hasn’t been an organization before us that addresses the underwater trash problem,” West said. “It’s not just limited to one area. There’s pretty bad trash issues all around Tahoe.”