Sunken boats prompt massive removal on Lake Tahoe
LAKE TAHOE — Sunken boats in Lake Tahoe have prompted a massive removal plan.
Sue Daniels showed CBS13 drone operator exactly where to fly above one of several sunken boats in Lake Tahoe.
"This is somebody's personal property. It's sad that they lost it, but they are responsible for it. I believe you know if you bring a boat into the water, you should be required to take it out," said Daniels.
She knows of at least three boats that sank during windy weather recently. But, unfortunately, they're right where she swims with friends.
"You know there are so many different pieces of litter," said Colin West, founder of Clean up the Lake.
West goes scuba diving to clean up as much as he can.
"I think at one point we removed pieces of almost an entire sailboat that had broken up into hundreds if not thousands of pieces," he said.
Due to the water's clarity, there is a lot of concern from the public about sunken boats leaking fuel, propane, and more.
"Obviously, the fiberglass and plastics can pollute the lake pretty terribly and then break up and disperse in the storms that we've seen recently," said West.
"I don't want it on my shoulders that we let it go. That we forgot, and we let garbage accumulate, and this poor lake has to suffer because of that," said Daniels.
Boaters have to go through inspections to ensure they're not bringing any invasive species into the lake. Daniels wants to add an insurance requirement to keep people from abandoning their boats.