One of the fastest growing areas in the country needs a regional sewer and drinking water plan.

• For over a decade, studies by the EPA, TDEC, HRWA and others have recorded oxygen levels in much of the Harpeth River in the summer that do NOT meet state water quality standards set to protect public health and wildlife.
• While stormwater runoff from urban and agricultural areas contribute pollution in the river, during the summer the dominant impact on the river are sewer plant discharges.
• Three sewage treatment plants (STP) discharge treated effluent into the Harpeth River: The City of Franklin, Berry’s Chapel Utility, Inc. (now Harpeth Wastewater Cooperative), and Cartwright Creek, LLC.

The Harpeth River has been a source of drinking water for Franklin. As the region's population increases, there is added demand for drinking water.  Franklin gets much of its drinking water from Harpeth Valley Utilities District which pulls water from the much-larger Cumberland River. The City connected to HVUD in the early 1980s.  Since 2006, HRWA has been involved with the City of Franklin and other parties, including funding engineering and economic analyses to ensure that drinking water withdrawal is done in a way  that does not degrade the Harpeth RIver.

The Harpeth is a great place to PLAY

Egyptian Lacquer Manufacturing Company, located next to Fort Granger, was identified in March 2007 as the source of hazardous chemicals, primarily acetone and toluene, spilling into the Harpeth near the Franklin Road bridge in downtown Franklin. 

This contamination migrates to the Harpeth River from pools of chemicals that are in the ground under the company’s site that have accumulated from leaky pipes. The pipe leaks have been stopped, but the hazardous chemicals dissolved in the groundwater are continuing to flow toward the creek and river.

Scientists use dissolved oxygen (DO) readings to evaluate the health of a river.

Maps of our watershed