RESTORATION
Utah's first nonprofit dedicated to recovering submerged vehicles, vessels, and debris from the lakes, rivers, and reservoirs our communities depend on.
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Recovering what others leave behind.
Submerged vehicles, vessels, and debris bleeding fuel, oil, and acid into the lakes, rivers, and reservoirs that Utah depends on.
Utah's lakes are contaminated. Nobody is doing anything about it.
Sources: Fathom Restoration, Utah Waterways: A Submerged Debris Atlas (2026), applying EPA dispersion factors (U.S. EPA Used Oil Management & Underground Storage Tank guidance); Great Salt Lake funding via the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (greatsaltlake.utah.gov, 2024). See the full research →
Every submerged vehicle is an active contamination event — leaching into drinking water, killing aquatic life, and corroding lake floors for decades.
What every submerged vehicle leaks into the water.
A single car holds roughly twenty liters of toxic fluids — fuel, oil, transmission fluid, coolant, brake fluid, and battery acid. Antifreeze alone: 1.4 ounces can be lethal to wildlife, and a single vehicle holds 1–1.5 gallons.
Sources: U.S. EPA Used Oil Management; EPA Underground Storage Tank guidance; EPA Aquatic Life Water Quality Criteria; AVMA toxicology; Pet Poison Helpline; USGS Water Quality assessments. Per-vehicle amounts reflect a typical mid-size sedan.
Sweet-tasting. Lethal to animals in tiny doses.
Suffocates fish gills. Coats waterfowl feathers.
Disrupts pH. Kills bottom-dwelling organisms.
Carcinogenic. Enters drinking water supply.
Great Salt Lake — surface elevation, the last quarter century.
Great Salt Lake anchors the ecosystem and economy of the Wasatch Front, where most Utahns live. It hit a record low of 4,188.5 ft in November 2022 and has only partially recovered since. Every contamination source matters more in a shrinking lake.
USGS Saltair gauge, simplified for visualization. Long-term decline driven by upstream diversion and drought — every additional contamination source compounds the loss.
Who's handling this? Nobody.
Under-funded, under-equipped. Focused on rescue, evidence, and remains — not long-term debris cleanup. A small number of certified public-safety divers statewide.
Monitor water quality. Issue reports. Lack any recovery capability, equipment, or operational mandate to physically remove vehicles from the bottom.
Exist to profit from insurance claims. No interest in pro-bono cleanup. No HazMat certification. No mission alignment. No one is paying them to go deeper.
That's the gap. That's why Fathom Restoration exists.
A full-service recovery operation.
Professional-grade extraction of submerged vehicles, vessels, and debris. USCG-certified crews, ROV-assisted location, hydraulic lift systems rated for 20,000 lb vehicles at depth.
HazMat-certified containment of all leaked fluids. On-site remediation assessment. Coordination with Utah DEQ and environmental agencies for post-removal water quality testing.
Direct support for law enforcement dive teams. Public water quality reporting. Education and outreach programs. Priority access for distressed families seeking vehicle recovery.
From the bottom to clean water.
The four-stage operation we're built and raising funds to deploy — from the lake floor to verified-clean water.
ROV reconnaissance and sonar mapping. Coordination with county sheriffs and lake authorities. Every asset GPS-documented before deployment.
USCG-certified dive crews with hydraulic lift systems rated for 20,000+ lb vehicles. Zero-spill extraction protocol. Full surface team support.
CDL-A HazMat licensed transport. Sealed containment prevents secondary contamination. Chain of custody documented from lake floor to disposal.
Post-extraction water quality testing in coordination with Utah DEQ. Full incident report filed. Data published to a public database.
The window is open.
Multiple forces are converging right now that make this work — and this moment — critical.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation alone committed $50 million to Great Salt Lake restoration — with none of it allocated to submerged-vehicle removal. (Source: greatsaltlake.utah.gov)
The lake hit record lows in 2022 and has only partially recovered. It anchors the Wasatch Front, where most Utahns live. Every contamination source matters.
No other nonprofit, company, or agency is structured and equipped specifically to recover submerged vehicles from Utah's waters.
Utah dive teams are resource-constrained and focused on rescue and evidence — not debris. We're built to fill a gap they can't cover.
Help us pull the first one out.
We're IRS-recognized, fully governed, and already in the water running volunteer cleanups by hand. Your donation funds the certified dive team, recovery equipment, and HazMat transport we need to start pulling vehicles out for good.
EIN 42-2166469 · UTAH NONPROFIT CORPORATION · IRS-RECOGNIZED 501(c)(3)