Page 12 - July-Aug 2019 Vol37 No2

MARYVILLE/BLOUNT COUNTY By Stefanie Farrell
#Trashtag Improves Pistol Creek

The City of Maryville, located in Blount Before
County, recently participated in the After
community cleanup movement spreading
across social media - #Trashtag - with City of Maryville and LDA employees work
their own version. This included a special together to clean up Pistol Creek
business community edition referred
to as “Spring Cleaning Challenge 2019”
where businesses were challenged to get
involved.
Pistol Creek Targeted for Cleanup

LDA Engineering, whose home office
is close by, jumped right in after being
challenged by the City to clean up an area
in Blount County, and then post “before
and after” photos on social media. To take
on the #Trashtag Maryville challenge,
eight LDA team members spent a muggy
April afternoon cleaning up an area of
Pistol Creek downstream of the Clayton
Bradley STEM Academy.

LDA president Jason Brooks brought
his kayak, which allowed a few employees
in heavy waders to go into the stream
to collect hard-to-reach trash. Other
employees worked in the dense, woody
thickets along the banks retrieving trash
that was half buried or tangled around
branches.

The 13-mile Pistol Creek is a tributary
of the Little River, located entirely in
Blount County. It arises from several
springs in the Carpenters Campground
area, meanders north and east through
Maryville and Alcoa, and joins the
Little River a mile south of the Town of
Rockford.

Scouring the stream and its banks, the
LDA team members retrieved plastic
bags, soft balls, water bottles, hard plastic,
styrofoam pieces, soft drink bottles,
aluminum cans, oil cans, a basketball, and
shoes. In addition to LDA, other groups
that met the Maryville challenge were the
Rotary Club of Maryville, the United Way
of Blount County, the Blount Chamber
of Commerce, Maryville College, City
employees from all departments, and the
City of Alcoa.
Impaired Stream Designations on the Rise

In 2014, the Little River was designated
as an “impaired stream” by the Tennessee
Department of Environment and
Conservation (TDEC). A stream is
designated as impaired by TDEC if it

12 TPW July/August 2019