An underwater cleanup initiative at Beltzville Lake resulted in 80 pounds of garbage.

The Earth Day Cleanup Day held Thursday at the lake consisted of divers who were joined by members of the Towamensing EMS.

Divers included Mark Houser, Jeff Smith, Rich Bistline, Keith Ferenz, Anthony Rossetti, Jose Torres, Sarah Chormanski, Nicholas Cole, Jon Leslie, Christine Tamburri, Jarod Depp, and Brian Moore.

Houser, PADI Instructor Development Course Staff Instructor with West Shore SCUBA, said the open water divers are different divers from different certification organizations.

“The cleanup is part of the larger Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful initiative, and we have been traveling around to the state parks for 11 years because our public spaces need (to be cleaned), especially in the water as it’s not common to have underwater cleanups, so the trash just accumulates,” Houser said. “That’s how we were able to pull 80 pounds of garbage out of what little of the beach area we actually covered. Some of that stuff had been in there a long time, too.”

Houser said he asked the Towamensing EMS if they’d like to join them in the event of a medical emergency, and they accepted.

“I always invite the local EMS Services to my events when I can,” he said. “We appreciated their support for this event. I like getting the residents involved as much as possible.”

Houser said another group that deserves credit is the Friends of Beltzville State Park, who were doing a joint land cleanup as well.