We Went Looking for Trash at Sand Hollow and Came Up Almost Empty
I left Utah County at two in the morning. Four hours later I was at Sand Hollow, outside St. George, meeting up with Tony Nitrox and Cami Tucker of Deepwater Conservation.
We came home with one food wrapper and some fishing line.
That is the whole haul. It is also some of the best news we have had in a while.
A Dive Park on Purpose
Sand Hollow is not a normal reservoir dive. Part of it is a managed scuba dive park, and the big things on the bottom were put there on purpose. A twin-engine Cessna went down in 2006. A 26-foot motorboat was added in 2014. Divers come out to swim through them and take a lot of pictures.
We did the same. It was a recreational dive, three certified volunteers on our own time, not one of our cleanups and not a recovery. We spent it on the plane and the boat, shot some video, and kept our eyes on the bottom for anything that did not belong.
There was almost nothing to find.
Forty Pounds Versus One Wrapper
Last weekend, four of us dove one small area of Deer Creek and came up with roughly 40 pounds of trash. A boat ladder, a Bluetooth speaker, fishing poles, a pile of cans.
Same kind of divers. Same gear. At Sand Hollow we came up almost empty handed.
That is not a knock on Deer Creek. It is a busy boating lake, and a lot of what we found there looked like it came off boats. The dive park is a small patch of water that divers visit because they love it.
Our guess is that part is not luck. The people who dive this park treat it like it belongs to them. They pick up after themselves, and after whoever was there before them. You can see it on the bottom.
So thank you to whoever has been looking after the Sand Hollow dive park. Every diver who grabbed a can on the way back to shore, you did that, and it shows.
What It Could Look Like Everywhere
A clean reservoir is not something one crew fixes in a single day. It is what happens when enough people decide a piece of water is theirs to take care of.
The Sand Hollow dive park shows it works. Our aim is to help more Utah lakes get there.
If You Want In
You do not need a certification to help, and you do not need to get wet.
Come to a cleanup. Dates go up on our website as they are confirmed.
Report something. If you have seen trash, a vessel, or a vehicle on the bottom of a Utah lake, tell us at fathomrestoration.org.
Donate. It helps get more volunteers in the water.
And if you dive Sand Hollow, keep doing what you are doing.
Fathom Restoration is a disabled-veteran-led Utah 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to lake cleanup and the recovery of submerged vehicles, vessels, and debris from Utah’s lakes and waterways. Donate / Volunteer / Report a vehicle at fathomrestoration.org.
Preorder. This is the long sleeve our crew wears on the water.
UPF 50 sun protection
90% bamboo viscose, 10% spandex. Ultra soft.
Long sleeve, dark blue gray. Relaxed fit, order your usual size. Sizes S through XXL. Size chart is in the photos, measure your chest not a shirt you own.
$55 long sleeve. $60 hooded. Same shirt either way, the hooded one just has a hood. Pick your style at checkout.
The back reads PROTECT UTAH’S LAKES over the Fathom Restoration wordmark and the anchor mark. Small anchor logo on the front chest.
This is a preorder and it funds the run. Expect 8 to 10 weeks. We will email you when yours ships.
Shipping is a flat $8, free on orders over $100.
Proceeds fund our mission cleaning Utah’s lakes and reservoirs. Fathom Restoration is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 42-2166469.
