Volunteer Divers Clean Up West Hill Pond

The cleanup was held Saturday, Sept. 14, to mark the first day of PADI Aware Conservation Week, a global event focused on environmental conservation and local efforts to remove trash.

According to diving instructor Laura Seese, who led the Enfield Scuba and Watersports scuba diving group at the New Hartford event, scuba divers across the state participated in underwater cleanups, diving deep below the surface of other local lakes and ponds to retrieve trash.

A group of about 15 divers were involved in the underwater cleanup at New Hartford’s private park, she said.

One of the diving group’s biggest finds was a full-size refrigerator, which was difficult to find in the murky water because it was 20 feet down, covered with moss and overgrowth. But with their equipment, the divers were able to remove the appliance from the lake, Seese said.

“It was pretty exciting,” she said. “We have no idea how long it was down there — five years, 10 years, maybe — or why it ended up in the water. I mean, who throws a whole refrigerator in the lake?”

The divers also recovered lots of other trash. “The sad part was finding the other stuff in the lake: tires, shoes, socks, underwear, beer bottles. … We found lots and lots of beer bottles,” Seese said. “We went back on Sunday (Sept. 15) and cleaned up an area on the other side of the lake, and we found more trash.”

The divers were joined by many others from the community, Seese said, who were enthusiastic about helping with the cleanup.

“It was such a community effort,” she said. “Residents got us a boat, and we were able to access Brodie Park beach, which is usually off limits; we got special one-day permission to go on the beach.”

This year, the divers noticed “that there’s more trash, which is sad,” Seese said.

The Enfield Scuba and Watersports diving group takes part in underwater cleanups around the state and will also search for lost items.

“We get calls from people, asking us to look for lost rings, things like that, and because we’re in Enfield, closer to Springfield, Mass., we get calls from people in Massachusetts and Connecticut,” Seese said. “We want to be part of this work to clean our lakes.”