"Sasamat Lake has to be the dirties lake in BC" says Les Newman, owner of Langley Diving and PADI Course Director.  "We have been coming here every fall for years and this year we set out to have more people, bringing out more garbage, raising more money for Project AWARE than ever before."

The goal was set and it was surpassed.  Over 100 volunteers including 40 divers, 50 Scouts in canoes and additional shore support brought in over 1,012 pounds (459.8 kg) of trash.  The garbage included nearly 2,200 bottles and cans, fishing line, cigarette lighters, 17 paddles, clothing, broken glass, sunglasses and more.

Not only did the lake get a good clean-up, but Project AWARE cleaned up as well.  Volunteers made donations to Project AWARE: $525.90 – Donations for Lunch that Langley Diving provided to everyone at no charge;  $351.25 – Donations for gear rentals to divers, provided by Langley Diving at no charge;  $214.80 – Proceeds from the recycling following the Dive Against Debris.

The day was beautiful and local residents who came to the lake were thankful but astonished at the crowd of volunteers and what they were pulling out of what they view as a "pretty little lake".

Langley Diving Project AWARE Co-ordinator, Robbin Knox was the first of 9 divers to earn the new PADI Dive Against Debris Specialty certification.  Two of the nine divers also earned their Master Scuba Diver rating at the event.  Because Langley Diving is 100% AWARE, the certifications will generate $110 from the prestigeous Project AWARE certification cards.

Robbin was excited about the turn out, the money raised and the garbage collected.  She only expressed one regret, "The sad part is that we could come back to this same lake tomorrow and pull out as much garbage again.  I agree with Les, it has to be the dirtiest lake in BC."