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Franklin lifts boil advisory in place since August; secures $2.4 million to modernize water system
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FRANKLIN — City officials said Friday that a boil advisory that had been in place for Franklin residents since August was lifted.
The Louisiana Department of Health issued the boil notice on Aug. 19 following reports of issues with the water supply's turbidity — a measure of the level of particles such as sediment in a body of water.
Mayor Eugene Foulcard said Friday that contractors then recalibrated the city's water system to meet the required 15-minute monitoring intervals within LDH's mandated 7-day period. Foulcard added that the city reported these numbers daily to LDH.
In September, Foulcard said that the boil advisory was not lifted by LDH at the time. This is despite, he said, complying with turbidity monitoring regulations.
At the time, he said he felt the city was being "held hostage and penalized," adding that Franklin was denied multiple Louisiana Water Sector Grants that would have improved the 100-year-old water system in 2020 and 2022.
"Although we are finally lifted on the Boil Notice we continue to walk a long and winding path with our water system," the mayor added Friday. "Our aging water system continues to pose challenges, but there are promising developments on the horizon."
Foulcard said the city has received $2.4 million in funding that will help "rehabilitate the Franklin water plant." The project's first engineering phase, which includes installing valves across the city and addressing frequent pipe ruptures, will finish in 2025.
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