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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A plastic chair, a metal rail and a garden hose are just some of the items West Palm Beach police and volunteer divers recovered Tuesday morning from the Intracoastal Waterway.
Twenty-five divers hit the water, 11 of them with the West Palm Beach Police Department, looking for trash as part of the 5th annual Intracoastal Waterway Dive Clean-Up.
Swimming with the tide, the goal of the divers is to clear the way of any underwater obstructions. In years past, the underwater search and recovery team have recovered solar panels, and even a 2,000 pound beam they believe was left behind from SunFest.
Sgt. Craig Davis with West Palm Beach Police Department says he’s passionate about the event. He says it used to be a part of their training and turned into something bigger.
“Every diver really cares about the water; without the water and the water being clean we don’t have a place to dive and we all love diving so this is what we really feel passionate about,” said Davis.
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Last year the department recovered 500 pounds of trash.
“Lots of visitors and boaters that are just careless and they throw their trash in the water as well as the currents that come and bring a lot of trash in here and of course as you can see we have a lot of waterfront activities here so we want to make sure the water is safe and clean,” said Sgt. Davis.
The organization 4ocean also volunteered to help pick up trash.
