A day of diving and volunteering keeps Lake Keowee clean

Lake Keowee holds the cool, clear mountain waters that comprise the headwaters of the Savannah River basin. With 18,500 surface acres and 300 miles of shoreline, as well as Duke Energy’s Oconee Nuclear Station, Keowee Hydro Station and Jocassee Pumped Storage Hydro Station, there’s a lot of activity on the lake.

Lake Keowee is a precious natural resource to many who live, work and play in Upstate, South Carolina, and it gets a lot of love from different organizations that work hard to keep it beautiful on its shore and under its surface. Most recently, employees from GE Power and GE Renewables, as part of their GE Volunteers organizations, spent a day diving Lake Keowee to clean litter from the lake floor. The company’s diving club visited heavy-traffic areas used by boaters, anglers and swimmers – all near Duke Energy’s Oconee Nuclear Station in Seneca, S.C.

Divers collected eight bags of trash, and pulled up debris, such as a toilet seat, used tires and a fishing pole.

“Even though Lake Keowee is over an hour from Greenville, we have so many employees, friends and families who visit the lake each year,” said GE Volunteer’s Melissa Seely. “Helping to keep it clean will only give us a better place to come and enjoy all that it has to offer, including spotting bald eagles and that 6-foot catfish that watched us while we were out there cleaning up trash.”

Each year, Duke Energy volunteers also spend an afternoon visiting various beaches, public access areas and parks on and around Lake Keowee to collect litter that visitors leave behind. During their most recent clean up event during Duke Energy in Action month this past May, volunteers clocked more than 40 hours of service picking up trash on Lake Keowee, which enabled the team to give Friends of Lake Keowee Society a $500 Duke Energy grant. FOLKS is a non-profit organization that spends time and resources protecting Lake Keowee. In addition to water quality and wildlife enhancement programs, FOLKS volunteers take ownership in keeping Keowee’s shoreline clean.

Duke Energy is thankful for these partnerships from various volunteers, nonprofit groups and company volunteer groups who give their time and resources protecting the lake.

If you live near a lake, consider volunteering your time picking up litter from the shoreline. You never know the impact a little clean up can do.