Cranbrook scuba club dives in to lake cleanup

When a group of Cranbrook-area divers teamed up to explore local waters, they decided to start with a so-called trash dive in which they clean up underwater debris.

The Cranbrook Scuba Diving Club chose Jim Smith Lake, about four kilometres outside the city, for their inaugural meet-up Saturday.

"It's just something we can do," Doug Lowes, co-founder of the diving club, told Daybreak South host Chris Walker. 

"It's a great way for divers to get together," he said. "One of the challenges we have as divers is, we need dive buddies."

The small lake in a provincial park is well-used by kayakers and fishermen. 

"But you know, over the years people have tossed things overboard," Lowes said. "Ice fishermen have taken things out on the lake and left them out there."

Aside from the environmental benefits, Lowes said the Jim Smith Lake clean up offers a great opportunity for divers at all levels. It's a shallow bowl with a maximum depth of about nine metres.

"We should be able to be under the water for each tank for over an hour, and the bends are not a concern at that depth," he said. 

In Jim Smith Lake, the divers expect to find lost fishing gear, beer cans and other debris, but it's not all toil. Lowes planned a treasure hunt and a local sports shop contributed prizes for the biggest trash hauls. 

Lowes said the bottoms of other Kootenays lakes contain more trash, but also more exotic sights such as sunken paddle wheeler boats and in Premier Lake, a freshwater coral reef.

With files from Daybreak South