Diving for clean lakes and rivers

Jean-Michel  Berthoud -

The Swiss Association of Environmental and Trash Divers (SAET) aims to remove all the rubbish from Switzerland’s bodies of water.

Since coming together last summer, the 17 divers have amassed an impressive “booty” including bicycles, tyres from cars and tractors, car wheels, stovepipes, fridges, garden benches, ammunition, oil drums, tins of paint, countless glass and plastic bottles and tins.

“I’m shocked at the lack of responsibility some people show towards nature,” SAET founder and president Thomas Niederer told swissinfo.ch. “It really makes me think about things.”

Niederer, 45, who installs ventilation systems when not underwater, has been diving since 2008, when he went on a beginners’ course in Greece. He is now working to become an instructor.

For him, diving is more than a hobby – it has become an environmental project.

“I started diving in order to relax, to unwind. When I discovered everything that was underwater, it was no longer possible to relax,” he said.

He says diving is like a calling. “I can’t turn a blind eye to the rubbish, the waste produced by society, that one encounters underwater. I can’t simply swim past it.”

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