Franklin, Town Of, NC
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
Franklin, Town Of serves about 9,992 people through 3,934 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Macon County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0157010; phone on file: 828-369-8998. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
That is down 14 ppb from 17 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Franklin, Town Of is 17 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 ppb |
| 2025 | 17 ppb over 15 |
| 2025 | 4 ppb |
| 2022 | 5 ppb |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 11 ppb over 10 |
Against other North Carolina systems
Of the 1,925 North Carolina systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 75 have gone over at some point. Franklin, Town Of's 3 ppb sits at the 88th percentile in North Carolina and the 83rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Macon County
26 other systems share Macon County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Franklin, Town Of. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Highlands, Town Of | 6,614 | 4 ppb |
| Cullasaja Club | 800 | 3 ppb |
| Mill Creek Estates Property Owners Asso. | 676 | 0 (not detected) |
| Highlands Falls Country Club | 650 | 10 ppb |
| Wildcat Cliffs Country Club | 445 | 0 (not detected) |
| Watauga Vista | 361 | 0 (not detected) |
| Riverbend Estates | 323 | 5.5 ppb |
| Lbj Job Corps | 270 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cold Springs Poa | 165 | 4.5 ppb |
| King Mountain Club Water | 150 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Franklin, NC
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Franklin, NC may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Franklin, Town Of whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. More in what a past exceedance means today.