Eight miles of lead telecommunication cables sat abandoned in the depths of Lake Tahoe for decades. Now, those lead-clad cables are finally out of the water.

In an effort to “Keep Tahoe Blue,” crews removed eight miles of lead-sheathed telecommunication cables from below Lake Tahoe’s waters. The League to Save Lake Tahoe said the recently-completed cable removal project was part of a multi-year effort in partnership with AT&T.

Miles of defunct, lead-covered telephone cables have long sat abandoned beneath the cerulean waters of Lake Tahoe. Now, after years of legal back-and-forth, the cables have been removed. Scuba divers discovered the cables on the lake’s sandy,