On the brilliantly sunny April 27, when Latvian enthusiasts were busy in the Great Taluk, there was no shortage of people doing things in Talsi and the region. One of the cleanups – quite unusual, because enthusiasts Almants Kalniņš and Uģis Kirkops dived into Talsi lake, pulling out many different things from its bottom – not only several Soviet-era tricycles “Spārīte”, pipes, tires, cash register, motorcycle sidecar, but also a water filter, which the internet image search engine recognizes as a late 19th century product.
Almants Kalniņš, the operator of underwater work, emerging for new net bags, says that the bottom of the lake is full of various things thrown into the lake. He says that the lake has hardly ever been cleaned in this way at all – at least nothing has been heard of. Seeing that divers take out of the water several “Spārīte” tricycles, which, due to long-term corrosion and mud, have a very different appearance, the question arises – how did they get there? A passer-by says that no great skill was needed to get the bike into the water. At the age of four, she herself fell over the handlebars of a small two-wheeler when it hit a small curb, but fell into the lake herself. Children’s tricycles must have ended up in the water in a similar way.
There will be enough work for several other talukas
Almants Kalniņš reveals that the idea of underwater cleaning was born because they realized that everyone can sneak into the bushes and collect garbage, but not everyone has the equipment and not everyone is trained in diving. “The average water temperature now is six or seven degrees. We have oxygen in the cylinder for four hours. You can see underwater as long as it is not cloudy. When entering a depth of six meters, it remains dark. Ugis dived with a flashlight, but I didn’t take it this time. When the sun is shining, it’s not so crazy and you can already see something. A lot of things were simply washed up in the lake, which people no longer needed. There are mocha frames, the end of the horse cart can also be seen, which is already half in the gravel. We cannot move it.
In total, we stayed here for less than four hours, but the diving itself was twice an hour. We wanted another third hour, but all the work dragged on, because we also wanted to pile everything that was taken out of the lake. But, of course, the job remained for the next year as well (laughs). Those piles already look big: sidecar, dungarees, wheels, tires and bottles. But to clean the whole lake, there should be six of us. Then in four days the lake would be cleaned.
It’s pretty crazy down there underwater. We removed some of it. There is less in depth. For example, bottles dropped into water initially float. They swim to the shore and sink there. Tires also sink closer to shore. If I’m not mistaken, there was a laser show on Lake Talsi for Latvia’s centenary. It turns out that the laser showmen had lost an entire fountain motor and lighting. While picking it up, it probably fell out of our hands, but we pulled it out,” says Almants Kalniņš, who performs underwater work.
Grooming in wetsuits
He does not deny that it must be an invitation to dive with passion into cold water. “We also do underwater work from time to time on a daily basis. The season hasn’t started yet, and there is less work, so we decided that cleaning is cleaning. And wants to do something. And why not something unconventional? We are certified underwater work performers, popularly known simply as divers. Today the water here was between six and eleven degrees. As soon as you are five meters under water, it is no warmer than eight degrees. You can’t do without a wetsuit. Each water temperature has its own wetsuit thickness. We can dive to a depth of 30 meters with such balloons, but we cannot take enough air with us to work underwater for two hours in a row. There are generally four divers in the team, but two of us made it to this rescue. We will definitely continue next year, but we ourselves are talking that in the summer, when the water will be warmer and the fountains will be installed again, we will help the guys and pull something out of the water. The fountain has about six motors under the water, and during the summer some three or four have to be replaced. Then we go to help, because we have the equipment to do it under water,” explains the diver, emphasizing that it is important to think about one’s own safety as well. Asked if it would be interesting to look for some treasures at the bottom of the lake, he answers with humor that then a metal detector should be used, but the water is full of nails, wheels, and dangles, which would be detected first.
Inquiring about the approximately 40-50 centimeter high barrel that the divers lifted out of the water, the Internet image search engine Google Lens shows that it is a water filter from the end of the 19th century. When contacting the historian Antra Grūbi, she makes an assumption after knowing the available information: «I would rather say that it is a filter patented at the end of the 19th century, which could have arrived in Talsi around that time or in the period up to the 1930s. Jon Tevelson had a house on the present day 27 Lielaja Street, and warehouses on the lake side. I think that the shop (trade) was also in the homestead, not in the house on the street,” says A. Grūbe, meaning that this water filter could also have been an item from the contents of a warehouse of this Jew.
“But it could also be that the filter, which is still to a certain extent an object of luxury at that time, was thrown from the apartment of the wealthy owners of a house by the lake,” the historian expresses her thoughts. She also says that there must be a logical explanation for why this filter has such a small growth.
