Last Saturday, around 1000 pounds of trash was removed from Brome Lake as a result of a collaboration between Renaissance Lac-Brome (RLB) and volunteer divers from Faisons notre part, a Shawinigan based group that organizes scuba diving cleanups across Quebec. Volunteers from the community and RLB came together to oversee the safety of the divers as they collected items at the bottom of the lake, such as tires and beer bottles dating back as far as the 80s. 

“We have done cleanups in the past. Like last year, we started with the clean-up of Coldbrook, which we did again this year,” said Donald Joyce, member of the board for RLB. “The clean-up that was done over the weekend was done with a group called Faisons notre part. (…) They partner with local groups, get together with people that want to take care of the lake, and do a clean-up.” 

Joyce said that the volunteer divers were nervous about heading into the lake because not everyone knows what a diver flag or a diver balloon looks like, and that’s where the help of volunteers and members of RLB was needed. 

“They asked us, through RLB, to reach out to our community and look for volunteers to help keep them safe,” explained Joyce. “(…) We have a little motor boat that RLB uses for our field work, we had two of our interns out on that, we had had one of our partners from OBV Yamaska join us on their paddle board, I was there in my kayak, and then there were two other paddle boarders who were friends and family of the divers that went out.” 

Each volunteer took on the responsibility of overseeing two divers by following their bubbles and the clean-up required a team effort. 

“We are very pleased they chose Brome Lake to do it and we were very happy to help them, help keep them safe, and help them collect trash,” mentioned Joyce. 

 The clean-up was concentrated near Camping des Érable in Foster, an area of the lake where, according to Joyce, has a lot of boat traffic. At the end of the day on Saturday, around 1000 pounds of trash was collected.

“1000 pounds of mostly bottles, half tires, and old junk that had just accumulated on the lake bottom over the last 30 years. We found one of the stubby beer bottles that I don’t think have been made since 1985,” noted Joyce. 

Joyce said that some of the trash was found just 200 meters away from shore. 

“Either it was dropped from a boat or someone had been ice fishing and left it behind,” he said. 

Currently, RBL does not have other water clean-ups scheduled, but they are already planning for next season. Until then, they encourage people to play their part in protecting the quality of the lake. 

“It would be really good if we didn’t have to do clean-ups. So, if people could just be very cautious when out on the water to make sure they don’t dump trash into the lake,” said Joyce. 

Listen to the full interview below: