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Scuba diver team fetches trash from bottom of Lake Superior

THUNDER BAY – For some, living at the head of the world’s largest freshwater lake means having access to a massive, hidden dumping ground.
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THUNDER BAY – For some, living at the head of the world’s largest freshwater lake means having access to a massive, hidden dumping ground.

A team of scuba divers recently brought some of the garbage from the bottom of Lake Superior to the surface.

Members of the Eco Divers Thunder Bay volunteered to help clean the lake at Fisherman’s Park as part of EcoSuperior’s Lake Superior Day celebrations, where they emerged with a disturbing collection of trash.

The divers came to the surface with an old electric wheelchair, discarded car door, electronic waste and pieces of scrap metal.
Eco Superior executive director Ellen Mortfield said seeing trash coming out of the lake is nothing new.

“It’s been a dumping ground for many, many years. There is a lot of cleanup to be done around the lake,” she said on Monday.
In addition to the legal consequences that can come from unlawful dumping for disposing of garbage in the lake, there can also be environmental costs.

“With the things like electronic waste and automotive waste there are a lot of toxic chemicals involved that will have an impact on water quality, an impact on organisms that live in the lake and the fish we are pull out of the lake to eat,” Mortfield said.

“It makes sense for people to be a little more conscious of what’s happening and what’s going in to our Great Lake.”


 





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