It's annoying, finding trash on the shoreline by your favorite swimming place. And don't think the trash stops at the water's edge. Even those lighter bits of plastic can and do end up on the bottom of your cherished lake or river.
A survey of the bottom of Lake Tahoe adds detail to the story; SCUBA divers moving in straight lines counted and picked up pieces of plastic from the Tahoe bottom. No area surveyed was plastic-free.
We get further information and implications from Monica Arienzo at the Desert Research Institute and Colin West at the nonprofit Clean Up the Lake.