Boone Watershed Partnership

Awards
for
Water Quality Protection

The Boone Watershed Partnership recognized the City of Elizabethton, TN, Elizabethton High School and North American Corportation/Carter County Clean Streams at the Third Annual Recognition Event at Sycamore Shoals State Park in Elizabethton, TN on July 14, 1998.

Left to Right: Hugh Thomason, Chief Operator, Ken Chase, Chairman, Boone Watershed Partnership
Harvey Anderson, City Councilman, and Johann Coetzee, Operations Manager.

The Waste Water Department, City of Elizabethton, has made steadfast and continuing improvements in the areas of treatment, collection system maintenance and industrial pretreatment.  Efforts have been made to practice a holistic approach to management.  The entire operation is an integrated entity; management of pipes and man holes are deemed as important in terms of resource allocation, as the more "visible" treatment plant operations.  An extensive capital improvement plan is underway to continue this past years success.

Elizabethton High School

Left to right: Standing: Eric Dunlap, Gary Barrigar, Teacher, Elizabethton High School,
Ken Chase, Chairman, Boone Watershed Partnership,
Dr. Jessie Strickland, Elizabethton City Schools Superintendent, and
Katie Powell.  Knelling: Brent Hendrich and Jimmy Barker.

Elizabethton High School's Ecology Classes and Club have conducted numerous water testing sessions by using chemical and biological methods to determine the health of Buffalo Creek.  The Club raised trout from the egg stage to fry in the classroom and released the trout into area streams.  They have been active participants in the Annual Watauga River cleanup by adopting a section of Doe River and having an exhibit at each event.

North American Corporation spearheaded the establishment of the annual Watauga River Cleanup in 1989 and has strongly supported the event for the past 10 years  to remove litter from the Watauga  River and other streams in Carter County.  A major part of the cleanup effort has been public education about the problem of trash and litter,  and other concerns about water quality.  Carter County Clean Streams signs have been placed throughout Elizabethton and Carter County to identify Clean Streams Teams. As a result of these efforts an estimated thirty tons of trash has been removed from local streams.

The Partnership also received a State Award

Ernest C. Blankenship, (Left) Special Assistant to the Commissioner,
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation,
presented the "1998 Aquatic Resource Preservation Award"
to the Partnership at Sycamore Shoals State Park,
Elizabethton, TN on July 14, 1998.