Franklin Public Water System

• Franklin opened what was considered the world's first garbage-recycling plant in 1971 - a Black Clawson Company facility that pulled metals out of solid waste and spun recovered paper fiber into roofing material.
• Franklin is literally the boundary marker on a federal aquifer designation: EPA's 1988 Sole Source Aquifer determination for the Buried Valley Aquifer System-South runs to a hydrodynamic boundary 'just south of the City…
• Franklin's tap water runs 22 grains per gallon hard - the city publishes the number specifically so residents can set their water softeners.
• The city keeps its emergency lifeline to Springboro alive by flushing about 8,000 gallons through it in each direction every six months, so the connection works the day it is needed.
• Franklin's water bill is priced in 333-cubic-foot units - about 2,491 gallons - and is purely volumetric with no minimum charge at all: use 500 gallons in a month and you pay for 500 gallons.

Source: en.wikipedia.orgdam.assets.ohio.govfranklinohio.org

• 1796Franklin founded by General William C. Schenck on the Great Miami River; incorporated 1814 and became a city in 1951.
• 1913The town was devastated by the Great Flood of March 1913 when the Great Miami River overflowed its banks.
• 1971Franklin opened what was considered the world's first garbage-recycling plant, designed and built by the Black Clawson Company; it recovered metals from solid waste and turned recovered paper fiber…
• 1988EPA Region V determined (final determination dated June 17, 1988) that the Buried Valley Aquifer System-South is the sole or principal drinking water source for about 650,000 residents of Butler…
• 2003Ohio conducted the source water assessment behind Franklin's Source Water Assessment Protection Plan, rating the wellfield aquifer as highly susceptible to contamination.
• 2023Franklin sampled under the fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5), detecting nine PFAS compounds plus lithium.

Source: en.wikipedia.orgdam.assets.ohio.govcms2.revize.com

How it is treated

Franklin draws raw groundwater from five high-production wells in the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (well screens 45-80 feet deep, water table less than 20 feet down) and treats it at a city-owned 5 MGD plant with iron and manganese filtration, plus fluoridation and chlorination. Finished water…

Source: franklinohio.orgcms2.revize.com

Water pressure

Not published. No service pressure or pressure-zone figures appear in the city's water pages or CCR; the only related infrastructure published is four water towers and 67+ miles…

Source: franklinohio.orgcms2.revize.com

$7.01 per 1,000 gallons

Typical household bill about $28 a month for water.

City of Franklin rate and fee schedule (Appendix A, March 2026) as posted by the Utility Billing Division: water $17.47 per 333 cubic feet, sewer $22.51 per 333 cubic feet…

Source: franklinohio.orgdam.assets.ohio.gov

Source: cms2.revize.comfranklinohio.org

EPA compliance record

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 2.1 ppb in 2024 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.

2 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 2 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

Recent and current work

• 12-inch watermain connection project · $959,752 · 2025-2026 · under construction
  Replaces about 5,690 linear feet of 4- to 12-inch water main plus 15 fire hydrants and 83 public water service lines on Main Street, Anderson Street, Riley…
• City-wide water meter replacement · 2026 · under construction
  End-of-life residential and commercial meters replaced by contractor VEPO Metering, scheduled March-July 2026. No cost to residents but replacement is…
• 2026 hydrant flushing campaign · 2026 · planned
  Routine distribution-system maintenance announced by the city on August 12, 2026. No cost published.

Source: franklinohio.orgfranklinohio.orgfranklinohio.org

Planned or needed

• Additional PFAS compliance monitoring under the 2024 federal PFAS rule · 2026-2027 · planned
  Franklin partially satisfied the rule through UCMR 5 and states it will collect additional samples in 2026 to fully meet the April 26, 2027 monitoring…

Source: cms2.revize.com

Franklin's supply is abundant but exposed. Its wells tap the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer, the glacial sand-and-gravel system EPA designated a Sole Source Aquifer in June 1988 for roughly 650,000 people across five southwestern Ohio counties - Franklin sits right at the northern edge of the designated area, on a hydrodynamic…

Source: dam.assets.ohio.govcms2.revize.comfranklinohio.org

Sanitary

Franklin does not treat its own wastewater. Flow goes to a Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant owned and operated by Veolia that also serves Carlisle, Germantown, Franklin Township, Warren County and Montgomery County. The city's Sewer Division maintains over fifty miles of sanitary sewer, over five miles of sanitary force main, and four…

Storm

Franklin runs a self-supporting stormwater utility charged on relative impervious area: $7.00 residential, $7.00 per 2,611 square feet of impervious surface for nonresidential. The system covers 75 miles of storm pipes plus catch basins, city-owned ditch…

Source: franklinohio.orgfranklinohio.orgfranklinohio.org

Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.