BAY MINETTE — Dyas Creek is much cleaner now thanks to the efforts of North Baldwin Sheriff's Search and Rescue and funding from Gulf Coast Resource Conservation and Development.

"We're constantly looking for things we can do to help the community," Luther Peebles, NBSSR dive captain, told members of the Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils during their annual meeting held Jan. 27 in Bay Minette.

He said his crew decided to work on Dyas Creek after noticing junk under the water while training.

"There's a lot of junk in that creek, it's kind of like 'out of sight, out of mind,'" he said. "If you could get underwater with us and see what's there, you'd be embarrassed."

He told those gathered log jams had begun to undermine the bridge pylons and cause erosion of the creek bank. Additionally, he said, the water is dirty and impossible to see through.

"Gulf Coast RC&D gave us $3,400 which purchased lift bags and an underwater camera," Peebles said.

Lift bags are used to float heavy objects to shore by being placed under them and inflated.

"We began by establishing a baseline of where we were going to work and making scene sketches," Peebles said. He said from there, the crew was divided based on the task they performed.

"We have the shore personnel, including a crane operator and diver tenders.” he said.

Peebles said Baldwin EMC donated the crane and crane operator’s time, and without them, the project would have cost much more.

The second group, according to Peebles, is the water personnel, consisting of sonar operators and divers. He said the sonar operators use equipment to locate objects underwater and indicate to divers where to go.

"One group that doesn't get the homage they deserve are the diver tenders," Peebles said. "They are our eyes and our ears. They guide our divers, without them a project like this wouldn't be possible."

But, the most significant cost savings was probably manpower.

"We worked 329.5 manhours," Peebles said, noting that the search and rescue team is all volunteer.

"We have to pay for our own equipment and training, sometimes out of our pocket," he said. "If the Department of Transportation had paid someone to do it, it would have cost $29,069.57."

Those manhours doubled as training hours for the search and rescue team.

"We have a lot of new members that have come on in the last few years, and they wanted to get some hands-on exercises," he said. "There's only so much you can get from video and virtual training exercises."

The true shock of the presentation came when Peebles began showing slides items pulled out of the creek under Dyas Creek Bridge on Phillipsville Road.

"There were a lot of tires,” Peebles said. “I can't tell you how many street signs we pulled out. That is somewhat expected. What was not was a Coke vending machine from the 70s.

"We could tell it was from the 70s from the glass door where it held glass bottles. Here is a picture of the Sprite that was still in it. You can see where it is still full and still capped."

Other items pulled up by divers included a four-wheeler motorcycle, buzz saw, chainsaw, nitrous oxide cylinder and a newspaper vending machine with the paper still intact, showing a date of October 1992.

Peebles said the group hopes to do similar projects in the future, but said for now, he and his men will enjoy the satisfaction of helping clean up Baldwin County.

"It was a lot of fun and a great training exercise, and the bottom of Dyas Creek is now clean," he said. "It now has a white sandy bottom."