Yearly Boone Lake Cleanup held as progress continues restoring lake

SULLIVAN COUNTY, Tenn. (WCYB) — The Boone Lake restoration project continues to make progress.

On Saturday, volunteers were assisting the Tennessee Valley Authority as part of the lake's 21st Annual Cleanup Day.

"It's a great effort for us to get out and give back to the community and work on getting this lake cleaned back up and ready to return to normal operation," says Kevin Holbrook, the Senior Manager of Civil Construction for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The TVA and the Boone Lake Association have worked together the last five years to restore the lake.

The project includes clearing debris and overgrown vegetation.

PREVIOUS:TVA and Boone Lake Association working together to clear vegetation from Boone Lake

This year's clean up is viewed as an important step to normalcy.

One objective was clearing a lot of logs since the lake's beginnings in the 1950s.

"Many of the logs for some reason have floated up from the lake bottom," says Val Kosmider a Board Member from the Boone Lake Association. "They're big. They're very heavy. They're very dangerous. If we can get a bunch of those out of the lake today, it'd be an enormous accomplishment."

Starting in October, the TVA will start adding water back into the lake.

"This fall, you will see the lake go up from about seven feet," says Holbrook. "As we go into next spring, you'll start to see us doing our fluctuation testing on the lake. We'll start fluctuating in about March about two feet per week and we'll fluctuate all the way to a summer pool elevation."

This clean-up at Boone Lake is just another sign the community can enjoy the lake at full pool in the future.

"I think people are really excited," says Kosmider. "We've dealt with this for five years now. Enough is enough."

The TVA says the restoration project is on schedule.

It's set to return to normal levels in 2022.