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    Complaint

    38588
    WPC
    2/24/2016
    Email
    Sewage Bypass / Overflow
    2/22/2016
    21-SEP-2016 11:09AM

    Location based on SITE_ID

    Site ID
    5258
    Site
    City of Franklin dba Franklin Water Reclamation Facility
    Location
    135 Claude Yates Drive
    City
    Franklin
    Description
    Bank Stabilization and Force Main Relocation
    County
    Williamson
    EFO Name
    Nashville
    Site Owner
    Franklin WWTP

    Investigation Results

    Issue Resolved
    2/22/2016
    Mark Hilty Director of Water and Waste water for Franklin
    2/23/2016
    Mark Hilty Director of Water and Waste water for Franklin
    2/22/2016

    Complaint Description and Writeup

    Complainant's email...Franklin City Officials,
    In the event you are not aware there is an active sewage discharge occurring in a creek alongside the Aspen Grove Greenway (near Cool Springs Blvd.) into the Harpeth River. The area is at the end of the trail directly across from the golf course. At the moment there are some people down there looking at it, however they did not seem to have any uniforms on indicating they work for the city or county. As I was walking down the trail around 12:45pm today I heard one of the people standing over a manhole at the end of the trail say to another person “That’s nasty”. Obviously this is not good. The area has a significant sewage odor and the creek is flowing swiftly with a cloudy grey/green color directly into the Harpeth River. When the contaminated water hits the River, it is noticeably a different shade of color from the rest of the river. The rocks in the creek had moss on them before, and now that moss is a terrible grey color.

    This area needs immediate attention as there is no doubt the sewage water is flowing directly into the Harpeth. Please investigate this and dispatch personnel capable of resolving this issue as soon as possible.

    Thank you,
    Andy Guthormsen
    Human Resources Manager
    EML Government Services
    Office (615) 771-2560
    Mobile (615) 957-2595
    ***
    Franklin response...Thank you for the email, Mr. Guthormsen,

    We have a crew on site. The blockage was cleared about 30 minutes ago. Crews are continuing to clean the area and investigate the cause. Initial findings indicate that a significant amount of material (that should not have been discharged to the sanitary sewer) had been introduced into the system by an unknown user, ultimately causing the blockage. Thank you again for reporting this information.

    Sincerely,

    Mark Hilty
    ***
    Below is the email correspondence I have had with Mr. Guthormsen. I checked in with our Collection System Superintendent after our conversation and was able to get a few additional bits of information. Through this email, I am also asking him to copy you on correspondence with TDEC regarding this issue.

    1. We received notification at 11:40. The blockage was cleared by 12:40.
    2. The blockage appears to have been caused by materials such as rubber gloves, disposable wipes, cleaning pads, FOG etc. introduced into the collection system. We are currently in the process of checking/cleaning the line to see if we can identify any other deficiencies. The adjoining property is NHC so we are going to perform an inspection of their property to determine if they need to be pulled into the pretreatment program. They do receive FOG inspections, the last one occurring in June of 2015.
    3. We are investigating the extent of the overflow in the tributaries. I don’t have definitive information at this point.
    4. As we discussed earlier, and NHC employee removed the manhole lid after observing wastewater discharging from several broken cleanouts on their property. The overflow in the City’s system started at this time.
    5. Crews are also in the process of cleaning the area around the overflow.

    I believe that is the extent of the information I have at this time. As I mentioned on the phone, JR will provide the required verbal notification within the 24 hour period and will have a written report to TDEC later this week, also within the required timeframe (5 days). In the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions or would like to discuss further. Thanks,

    Mark Hilty
    If you have any questions or comments, call us at (615) 532-0287 or email the TDEC Help Desk at BG-Help_Desk@tn.gov.