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As part of the 25th year of the Clean Waters event, 41 divers ventured below the surface of Velické, Popradské and Štrbské mountain lakes to collect the garbage that was left behind by visitors during the summer season. They also cleared out the quarry in Kvetnica this year.
Besides the traditional waste such as plastic bottles and cups, they also found a tomahawk that was probably left in the Štrbské mountain lake after the filming of Náčelník Veľký Had in 1967 with the legendary Gojko Mitič as a main character.
Divers collected 562 kilograms of the waste, the majority of which, 406.5 kilograms, was found in the quarry that was cleaned for the first time. They found a bag of books, a television, tyres, various ropes, iron and common household waste.
The biggest interest was in cleaning Štrbské mountain lake – 27 divers participated collecting 77 kilograms of waste.
“Besides plastics and the tomahawk, there was also part of a fence used for racing,” said Pavol Kráľ, coordinator of State Forest TANAP, as quoted by the SITA newswire. They also found old coins and another surprise was a small weather station.
Popradské mountain lake was hiding a new drone, wardrobes, glass, bricks and cans, together 46.5 kilograms of waste collected by eight divers.
Another five cleaned Velické mountain lake, collecting 32 kilograms of waste, mainly construction-work material.
“I am happy to say that there is now less waste in the Tatra mountain lakes,” said Kráľ for SITA.
