A Safe Clean and Livable City

Sub-Theme: Franklin will provide high‐quality water and wastewater treatment services that will meet the needs of our growing community.

Having a safe, clean, and livable city is a primary requisite for our citizens and they are supportive of the means necessary to assure the idyllic yet progressive character of Franklin. Residents want to live healthier, sustainable lives and will support services that deliver high standards. Franklin takes pride in the professionalism and quality of our police, fire, and emergency response teams. We understand the importance of code enforcement as a means of precluding declining and unsafe neighborhoods and business districts. The City and its Water Management Department recognize our role as stewards of the environment as we deliver essential services while preserving the natural beauty of the community.

There are three goals contained within this sub-theme:

Franklin will establish standards for the quality of its infrastructure (i.e., water lines, sewer services)

Goal: To have a reliable, efficient, and scalable infrastructure

The operation of a Water and Wastewater Utility places sizable burdens upon the City of Franklin to ensure proper treatment, care and stewardship of the natural environment and natural resources. It is therefore not only a financial and an operational imperative, but an environmental imperative, to ensure that the infrastructure which collects and distributes water and wastewater services is as reliable, efficient and scalable as possible.

To that end, the City provides three measures of evaluation. The sanitary score, is a rating from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and is comprised of an on-site inspection and file review which documents the operational performance of the water system.

Another measure of efficiency and reliability is the unaccounted water in the system. It is not uncommon for many systems nationwide to have 10, 15, 20 even 30% of the water which runs through the pipes go unaccounted. This is a result of many factors, but the most common include aging infrastructure, leaky pipes, fire hydrant and fighting usage and on occasion illegal taping into the system. The goal is to minimize this as much as possible.

The final measure the City uses to examine the actual cost of utilities consumed in order to run the system. Over the last eight years, utility usage and costs have not necessarily decreased, but remained remarkably steady, even as the system has grown. 

Baseline: Sanitary score is 97 (2012). Years above with no data indicate years where no inspection occurred. 

Baseline: Unaccounted water within the system is 20.8% (FY2012)

Baseline: Energy costs for water and sewage delivery is $1,595,352 (FY 2012 sum actual expenditures from water fund and wastewater fund).

Franklin will continue to meet or exceed regulatory requirements for water quality.

Goal: To have no violations of regulatory requirements for water quality.

As shown above, the City of Franklin is proud to have no water quality violations of regulatory requirements. The State of Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation regularly monitors water systems statewide and carefully examines each for adherence to strict Federal and State guidelines for the quality and safety of drinkable water. We have established a standard to have no violations of water quality - which we have been able to meet to date.

Baseline: Zero water quality violations in 2012. (TN Dept. of Environment & Conservation monitoring requirements and regulatory standards.)