The City of Franklin, TN’s wastewater facility participated in TDEC’s Tennessee Plant Optimization Program (TNPOP) in 2025. The program focuses on improving operations of municipal wastewater plants to improve effluent quality, such as reducing effluent nitrogen and phosphorus amounts, while also reducing facility energy consumption and chemical usage. Franklin’s focus area through the program was the reduction of effluent phosphorous (<1.0 mg/L) with minimal chemical and electrical usage, while maintaining compliance. The program also explored improving nitrogen removal through optimizing nitrification and denitrification. The optimization team first focused on developing baseline data of current treatment processes, including observing oxidation reduction potential through the aerobic, anoxic and anaerobic zones of the oxidation basins. The operations team profiled ammonia, nitrates, and orthophosphate concentrations throughout the process. Additional focuses were to reduce, or eliminate, the need for methanol addition to the WRF’s denitrification filters, and to reduce energy consumption in the oxidation basins through improving the cycle times of anaerobic zone mixing equipment. The optimization team observed that each of the facility’s three oxidation basins required different approaches to optimize. Basin #1 optimization focused on improving anoxic environment conditions. Basin #2 optimization focused on increasing the nitrates available for removal. Basin #3 was performing well throughout the program and acted as a baseline, or target, basin. Optimization was also performed in the anaerobic zones of each basin to increase anoxic zone performance. The optimization team performed the following to achieve results: The operating cycle for mixers in the basin fermentation zones were altered to run significantly less frequently. Denitrification zone gates for basin #2 was altered. Variable speed aerators were operated at slower speeds. Fixed speed aerators for all basins were taken out of service. Target mixed liquor suspended solids values were changed along with aerobic basin dissolved oxygen setpoints. The program achieved successful results. Orthophosphate concentrations in all 3 basins were reduced to below 1 mg/L, and effluent total phosphorous values were maintained below 1 mg/L. Effluent nitrates were reduced to below 2 mg/L, resulting in a halting of methanol addition and yielding further cost savings. Optimization efforts did experience hiccups; the program found that regeneration of orthophosphates was occurring in secondary clarifiers. Taking some clarifiers out of service, reducing clarifier detention time, corrected these issues.