Local Lake Cleanup*ADVICE*

[mikswi]

I hope somebody can help me out here. I posted this thread under Reefs & Ecosystems but allot of people dont go in there, so I'll try it here.

I am looking to put together a cleanup day for a local lake later this summer around late July-August.

Lately it seems that there have been some complaints about divers and how they disrupt fishing and "limit use of lakes because of all the flags". I worry that this year may bring things to a head where divers possibly get banned from some lakes. I live a minimum of 1-1/2 hours from the ocean so this effects allot of divers in the area.

I want to put together a Lake Cleanup Day for a commonly used lake. I have whatever support I need from my LDS and a local trash Company will donate a small container for the effort and I'm willing to help out with any unexpected cost's but, I just dont know how to go about organizing something like this. Can anybody offer some advice that has done this before or attended a Cleanup Day?

I want to get the local paper involved as well so that the GOOD we are doing is made known.

How far ahead should I plan?

What are the insurance considerations?

Who do I speak with at the Town Hall to make sure they are OK with it?

Should I have the local EMT on standby? Im sure they would like to be there on standby anyways.

What type of support do I need on the shore for this event?

Just how liable am I or the LDS/Trash Company for partially sponsoring this if somebody gets hurt?

Would I be losing the focus if I got the local Girl/Boy Scout chapter involved to help with the shore cleanup and putting up posters in advance?

I dont want this to end up being a logistical nightmare because we are trying to clean up garbage from a lake, show the public the positive side of SCUBA as well as make a point here about Divers. The point being that the DIVERS cleaned up all the trash that the BOATERS and fisherman chucked over the side. It would be a banner day for me if we recovered a marine battery or a discarded outboard motor, in addition to the guarranteed pile of fishing line, lures and soda/beer cans.


Any and all help/thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Again
I can be PM'd as well if you dont want to post here

 

[Diver0001]

I hope somebody can help me out here. I posted this thread under Reefs & Ecosystems but allot of people dont go in there, so I'll try it here.

I am looking to put together a cleanup day for a local lake later this summer around late July-August.

Lately it seems that there have been some complaints about divers and how they disrupt fishing and "limit use of lakes because of all the flags". I worry that this year may bring things to a head where divers possibly get banned from some lakes. I live a minimum of 1-1/2 hours from the ocean so this effects allot of divers in the area.

I want to put together a Lake Cleanup Day for a commonly used lake. I have whatever support I need from my LDS and a local trash Company will donate a small container for the effort and I'm willing to help out with any unexpected cost's but, I just dont know how to go about organizing something like this. Can anybody offer some advice that has done this before or attended a Cleanup Day?

I want to get the local paper involved as well so that the GOOD we are doing is made known.

How far ahead should I plan?

What are the insurance considerations?

Who do I speak with at the Town Hall to make sure they are OK with it?

Should I have the local EMT on standby? Im sure they would like to be there on standby anyways.

What type of support do I need on the shore for this event?

Just how liable am I or the LDS/Trash Company for partially sponsoring this if somebody gets hurt?

Would I be losing the focus if I got the local Girl/Boy Scout chapter involved to help with the shore cleanup and putting up posters in advance?

I dont want this to end up being a logistical nightmare because we are trying to clean up garbage from a lake, show the public the positive side of SCUBA as well as make a point here about Divers. The point being that the DIVERS cleaned up all the trash that the BOATERS and fisherman chucked over the side. It would be a banner day for me if we recovered a marine battery or a discarded outboard motor, in addition to the guarranteed pile of fishing line, lures and soda/beer cans.


Any and all help/thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Again
I can be PM'd as well if you dont want to post here

You might want to contact a guy called Mike de Jong. He's the chairman of a Dutch organisation called "Duik Holland Schoon" (translated: Dive Holland Clean). They regularly organise "clean up" dives in Holland and they have a lot of experience with the logistics, sponsoring, the press etc. and I'm sure he can give you some tips to get you started.

Their website is http://www.duikhollandschoon.nl/

and you can email Mike at dhs@wxs.nl

If you need more help than this the PM me and I'll try to put you in touch with people I know who were involved in the diving.

Cheers,
R..

 

[Don Burke]

Down this way they run "Clean the Bay Day" once a year.

Maybe they can share some scar tissue with you.

http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=action_calendar_ctbd

 

[SDAnderson]

http://www.coastalcleanup.org/index.cfm

 

[mikswi]

Thanks, I emailed them and briefly described my plan and asked for any advice they could provide. So far-no reply. I'm probably just going to end up wingin it myself. I'll contact the town to ensure I have their blessing first though.

Thanks for the post.

 

[The Chairman]

The best way to clean a lake is to start at the bottom and work your way up.

 

[glbirch]

http://www.projectaware.org/americas/english/icd.asp

I think that link will give you a lot of the information you are looking for.

We have done lake clean ups before up here in Cold Lake. (20 hours or so from the ocean). A few things I remember from the last one:

Don't stop at the local paper. Local radio, tv, newspapers. Let them all know. At worst you get mentioned in local events, at best they send someone to take pictures or whatever.

You should have started planning months ago.

Not going to touch insurance/liability, you're in a different country with different rules. But you definately should check.

Town Hall. Maybe community recreation? Someone at the local marina?

May not need EMT's on standby, but let them know what you are doing at least.

Shore support. Minimum would be some assistants to help people gear up, help getting in/out of water, help pulling trash up. Better would be hot/cold drinks, snacks, even lunch. Good opportunity to shmooze to local restaruants, diners, delis, etc. Post a newsletter, get people involved.

Involving boy/girl scouts to do a similtaneous shore clean up can work well.

Our last clean up we involved park wardens and RCMP (police). In a stroke of genius our club president offered the wardens and police major discounts if they wanted to take Basic Open Water at the time. Got them all on our side. Local hunting/fishing club to do shore clean-up. We canvassed local businesses for sponsership prizes. Mugs, trinkets, whatever. Our club also paid for some 'diver down' informational signs to post at the local marina.

This link is to our old, inactive website, but it shows what we were doing: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Midfield/5527/cleanup.htm

Depending on the lake, you may want to consider boats for support, or you may want to keep it to shore dives. Decide where your limits are before you start. We have found everything from bottles to tires, shopping carts to what-have-you. You don't want untrained divers trying to bring up an engine block from 20 metres.

That's all I can remember right now. Feel free to PM me if you want more detail or whatever. (But I'll be away in Mexico next week.)

Good luck.

 

[mikswi]

Thanks everybody for your advice. I will let you all know how this turns out

 

[pt40fathoms]

We do a PADI clean up dive every year. The LDS supplies the air and garbage bags, the divers are all volunteers. Sense we are all certified divers, and the LDS has insurance that covers it for training and "events", all that is required is the signing of the standard PADI letter of understanding and release form.

Padi also has a "reward" program for any LDS that is conducting this type of diveing event. Check with PADI for details.

You can go one step further, as you stated in your original post, and make this as public as possible. Good publicity like this is sure to go a long way.

The amount of garbage we pull up never stops to amaze me.

 

[MikeC]

You may want to contact your state's Department of Natural Resources or whatever it's called in MA. They should know if there is anything REAL bad on the bottom that they don't want disturbed. Also, they may be the ones who actually are responsible for the lake, not the town. If the state controls it, they would be the ones to issue any type of needed permits