The Harpeth River in Franklin will be seeing less water withdrawals by the city of Franklin as of Tuesday, per new restrictions in a permit issued by the state’s environmental division.
Earlier this year, the Harpeth River was put on the Endangered Rivers list from the American Rivers Association due to some concerns, not just in the Franklin stretch, but for the river as a whole.
According to Franklin City Administrator Eric Stuckey, the city’s part of stewarding the Harpeth River consistently outperforms the standards put on them by the state for water pumped back into the river. As for withdrawals, though, there have been some concerns about the Harpeth’s safety, and thus, a new permit was issued.
The state environmental division, TDEC, coordinated with the U.S. Geological Survey to draft the new permit using the “best available science” and building on the previous 2007 permit, according to a press release.
The Harpeth River Watershed Association, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, City of Franklin and U.S. Geological Survey worked together to put the new Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit in place.
“We committed to reviewing this permit from scratch and making decisions that are protective of the Harpeth River based on the best available science and data,” said Tisha Calabrese Benton, Director of TDEC’s Division of Water Resources. “We appreciate the USGS analysis and support, as well as the cooperation, dialogue and input from both the city of Franklin and HRWA throughout this process, and look forward to continuing to work together to study and protect the Harpeth.”
Stipulations of the new permit:
- Prohibits withdrawals exceeding 20 percent of the river’s flow
- Prohibits withdrawals that reduce flow below ten cubic feet per second
- Withdrawals must stop if dissolved oxygen levels reach 5.0 parts per million or below
- Franklin must install a biological monitoring device above and below the intake
- Franklin must install a new flow gage to accurately measure river flow
The old gage that was being used to monitor river flow was actually placed below the point where Franklin pumps water back into the river, therefore not giving an accurate read of river flow, according to HWRA.
“According to our review of 6 years of city documents provided by Franklin to HRWA, the city was not basing its operations on a measure of the rivers’ flow at the intake. Instead the city was using river flow readings that are downstream from their withdrawal which TDEC had specifically stated needed to be resolved when the permit was first issued nearly 8 years ago,” said an HWRA email about the new permit.
Stuckey says this problem has recently been resolved by moving the measuring device.
“We are a very high performing organization,” Stuckey said talking about these types of water permits. “We are highly regulated in what we do both in water and wastewater, and we generally perform among the best in the state.”
Franklin is currently planning some upgrades to their drinking water plant, which will incorporate state of the art measures to clean water more effectively and update some outdated equipment at the current plant. While the upgrades will increase the withdrawal capacity, the city must adhere to the state-issued permit in order to keep the Harpeth River flowing at a safe level.
In addition to the permit, the HRWA, SELC, city of Franklin, and TDEC met with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and USGS to begin planning for a new study of the Harpeth River, particularly now that conditions have changed with the removal of the low-head dam. The study, called a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that load among the various sources of that pollutant. TDEC will lead the new TMDL, with support from EPA and including significant stakeholder input, to look at the entire Harpeth River Watershed.
“This permit achieves key changes HRWA has long recommended, including new withdrawal limits tied to water quality conditions and installation of a more accurate measuring system of the river’s flow prior to the city’s withdrawals that we hope will be in place before this summer’s low flow season,” stated Dorene Bolze, Executive Director of the Harpeth River Watershed Association. “HRWA is pleased that TDEC is funding continued scientific work in establishing river low flow thresholds and that the permit will be re-evaluated based on this new information as soon as it is available. In addition HRWA is looking forward to participating in this new broad collaboration to increase data collection, study, and establish pollution reduction strategies to improve the health of the state Scenic Harpeth River.”
More Harpeth River news
