Franklin Is Quadrupling Its Water Storage, and the Days of Boil-Season Restrictions Are Numbered

By Jon Tharp, Broker  ·  July 21, 2026

Franklin is spending just over $6.6 million to quadruple how much treated water it can hold at any given moment, and the practical result for Macon County water customers is that the maintenance restrictions everyone grumbles about should largely disappear.

The treatment plant sits on Industrial Park Loop, just west of town off US-441, about an hour and fifteen minutes southwest of Asheville. The town built it in 1975, and a lot of the original equipment is still doing the job.

What is actually changing at the Franklin water plant?

The big number is storage. Franklin's clearwell, the final basin that holds filtered and disinfected water before it heads out to homes and businesses, currently holds 56,000 gallons. When the project finishes, it will hold 250,000.

That is roughly a quarter of the plant's daily output sitting on site, ready to go, at all times.

The pumps are changing too. The two existing high service pumps are 50 horsepower each. Three new pumps at 125 horsepower each will replace them, and any one of them can move four million gallons a day. The new building also gets an internal crane system so crews can pull a pump without a production.

Two additional backwash pumps are going in to clean the filters. Right now the plant relies on gravity for that.

Why do Franklin water customers keep getting restrictions?

Because there has been no cushion. If the plant needs maintenance, treatment stops, and with only 56,000 gallons in reserve there is not much to coast on.

Kyle Pocquette, the plant's Operator in Responsible Charge, put it plainly: the town is barely creeping by on current capacity, and most maintenance has to happen at night to minimize the hit to residents.

Those overnight shifts and daytime restrictions have drawn plenty of complaints over the years. Anyone who has lived in Franklin long enough has gotten the notice.

With 250,000 gallons banked, the town can take equipment offline during normal working hours and keep water flowing. Mayor Stacy Guffey framed it as added capacity and redundancy, plus better protection during drought and flood conditions, which is not an abstract concern in this part of the state.

What does this mean for property owners in Macon County?

More than people usually assume. Water infrastructure is one of those things that quietly determines where a county can grow and where it cannot.

Franklin's plant currently processes about two million gallons a day, and it is legally capped at one million gallons per day per filter with two filters running. The next phase of modernization adds two more filters and rebuilds the settling basins, which would double that permitted ceiling.

That matters for anyone watching development along the US-441 corridor. Municipal water is the difference between a parcel that can support a subdivision or a commercial building and one that is stuck on wells and septic.

There is also the disaster angle, which nobody in Western North Carolina takes lightly anymore. After Helene, the value of having a quarter million gallons of potable water sitting in town reads differently than it would have a few years ago. Owens noted that the increased capacity could serve as a potable water resource in the event of a natural disaster, and around here that is not a hypothetical.

Is the project on schedule?

Yes. Work started in January of this year and is due to wrap by late February 2027. That is two weeks past the estimate the town put together back in 2022, which Owens called one of the most successful large-scale construction projects in several years.

Only one unexpected repair came up, when a piece of equipment breached a main water line. Crews had service back within a few hours.

Haren Construction Company is doing the work, with Withers Ravenel on the engineering side. The town, contractor, and engineers meet regularly to head off supply chain problems before they become schedule problems. Two million dollars of the $6.6 million total came from federal funds.

Meanwhile, water keeps moving through temporary piping installed around the facility, serving customers as far east as the Franklin Ford dealership and as far south as the Macon County Welcome Center on Georgia Road.

Guffey gave credit to Pocquette, Public Works Director Bill Deal, and the rest of the staff for managing the project while keeping service reliable day to day. Public Works jobs rarely get applause, and this is one of the few times the work is visible enough to earn some.

If you are wondering what it is actually like to live in this corner of the mountains, Jon Tharp knows the area and is glad to talk it through.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

When will Franklin NC's water plant upgrade be finished?

The project is scheduled for completion by late February 2027. Work began in January 2026 at the treatment plant on Industrial Park Loop west of Franklin, with Haren Construction Company handling the high service pumps and the new clearwell. Town Manager Amie Owens has said the timeline is running only about two weeks past the original 2022 estimate, which is unusual for a project of this size. Water service continues uninterrupted during construction through temporary piping installed around the facility, so customers should not expect extended outages while the work wraps up.

Why does Franklin NC issue water restrictions during maintenance?

The current plant can only store 56,000 gallons of treated water in its clearwell, which is the final holding basin before water goes out to customers. Because treatment has to pause during maintenance, and there is almost no reserve to draw from, the town issues temporary restrictions to stretch supply. Crews have been doing much of that maintenance overnight to reduce the impact on residents. The new 250,000 gallon clearwell holds roughly a quarter of the plant's daily output on site at all times, which should let the town work on equipment without asking customers to cut back.

Where does Franklin NC get its drinking water?

Franklin draws its raw water from Cartoogechaye Creek, which feeds the treatment plant west of town. The water first passes through a pre-treatment chamber system that removes roughly 90 percent of its turbidity, the measure of cloudiness caused by suspended sediment. Silica serves as the primary filtering medium, clustering impurities into larger particles called flocs so fewer chemicals are needed. Sodium hydroxide adjusts pH, poly aluminum chloride assists coagulation, and bleach disinfects. By the end of the process the water moves through settling basins and filters before reaching the distribution system.

Does Franklin NC have enough water capacity for growth?

The plant currently processes and delivers about two million gallons per day, and it is legally limited to one million gallons per day per filter with two filters in service. The three new high service pumps are each rated to move four million gallons per day, so pumping capacity will no longer be the bottleneck. The next phase of modernization involves updating the settling basins and adding two more filters for a total of four, which would raise the plant's permitted treatment ceiling and give Franklin real room to serve new homes and businesses.