Read Tennessean's Williamson AM article.

ACTION ALERT for the HARPETH RIVER 

STATE PUBLIC HEARING ON SEWER PLANT PERMITS

was held TUESDAY, August 31, 2010

  Too Much Sewer Plant Discharges into the River in the Summer

 Do you enjoy swimming, paddling, tubing, fishing, and playing on the Harpeth River?  No matter where your favorite spot is along the main Harpeth, from the headwaters in Eagleville down 90 river miles to the Harpeth River State Park in Cheatham County, the river does NOT meet water quality standards during the summer.

For the first time, the 3 state sewage treatment plant permits that serve all the growth in Franklin and northern Williamson County are being revised at once as a step toward reducing pollutant load into the river.  While some aspects of the proposed permits are tighter, they still allow twice as much pollutant load than the river can handle in order to meet state water quality standards based on analysis done by the EPA.   These state permits are an essential component of a larger effort launched by the city of Franklin that involves many entities including HRWA to develop a long-term, cost-effective water and sewer plan for the high growth area of the Harpeth.  

BACKGROUND:  The Harpeth River in the summer is “effluent dominated”

For over a decade, studies by the EPA, TDEC, HRWA and others, have recorded oxygen levels in the river water well below state standards.   Dissolved oxygen levels in the river water have been recorded at less than half the state standards and even lower, at levels that stress fish which have trouble breathing and feeding and will not reproduce.   Pollutants from sewer plant discharges, septic seepage, and urban and agricultural runoff feed the growth of algae and bacteria that cause the water’s oxygen levels to drop very low and give the river a green color when in healthier conditions it would be clear.

The largest pollutant sources are the sewer plants that serve Franklin and Northern Williamson County that discharge into the Harpeth in one 17 mile stretch (Franklin, Lynwood that serves Cottonwood, and Cartwright Creek that serves River Rest).   The largest sewer plant in the entire river system is the city of Franklin’s with a design capacity of 12 million gallons per day (12MGD).   In comparison, the flow in the Harpeth in downtown Franklin can be as little as only 1/2 million gallons per day.  This is the extreme low flow condition for the Harpeth that the sewer permits  are supposed  to be designed to protect.  The other two sewer plants are much smaller (each around ½ million gallons a day), but still large enough to affect the river’s water quality as seen in the river dissolved oxygen studies.

Steps to Improve sewer issues have been started:  

Over ten years ago, poor water quality conditions and past sewer plant problems in the Harpeth River have been the focus of concerned citizens who felt compelled to sue in years past that led to the EPA’s pollutant load reduction plan (known as a TMDL) for the Harpeth in 2004 and improvements with Lynwood that was violating its permit under prior owners.   In recent years, Williamson County, Franklin, TDEC, and the current sewer plant operators have all invested in efforts that will improve water quality.   Williamson County led the way to hook up the neighborhoods on septic that were experiencing failures around Lynwood and northern Franklin to central sewer.  TDEC helped this effort by reserving half the new capacity of Lynwood for these neighborhoods when they approved that plant’s expansion.  Now these areas will be treated by Franklin which has a much more efficient system.  Franklin built a new plant that produces very clean effluent, well below its current and proposed permit limits, and is only at half capacity.   In addition, the city has been forward thinking in developing alternatives for discharging treated effluent with its effluent reuse program.  This means the city discharges only half of its effluent in the summer into the Harpeth, while the rest is used to irrigate several golf courses.   Franklin’s set a goal to reduce its effluent discharge into the Harpeth in the city’s Sustainability Action Plan.  And it has launched the previously mentioned regional water and sewer plan.

 HRWA's GOAL FOR THE HARPETH RIVER:

Meet Water Quality Standards and Maintain Natural River Flows

For further information on the permits, and to send in your comments, contact:  Gary Davis,  Gary.Davis@tn.gov   (615) 532-0649.

HRWA is updating its web site so that all analyses and comments related the water quality conditions of the Harpeth River and these proposed permits are available.  If you need a document that is not on the site, please contact Dorene Bolze, Executive Director.