Sinking Creek Caves cleanup

Sinking Creek in Washington and Carter Counties in Northeast Tennessee is notoriously polluted. For several years, the state, TVA, the Boone Watershed Partnership, and Johnson City have tried to clean it up, mostly by identifying and "remediating" point sources of sewage and contaminated stormwater runoff. Here's the plan. In July, 2012, I  cleaned up the smaller trash in the creek bed where the creek goes underground. I returned April 7 and 11, 2012, hoping to find a cleaner creek than I had last year. For the most part, it was cleaner, but a lot remains to be done. When I reached the upstream cave, it was taking more water than I've ever seen. I realized that a huge amount of trash must get washed straight into Watauga River and thence into the lake through this entrance. Almost all the work I've done has been to clean up the relatively small amount of trash that gets washed down to the final sump.

Update: flickr pic at http://www.flickr.com/photos/xcaverx/sets/72157629593911614/