FRANKLIN—In a future meeting, the city council will be asked to vote on extending an agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey to upkeep gages on the Chowan River basin, which includes both the Blackwater and Nottoway rivers.

The agreement was entered in two years ago, and the extension will add five years. Financing for the project will increase from $6,915 to $7,050 in the first year (2015) of the new extension for Franklin, should all localities that are currently supporting it continue.

The total cost in 2015 for localities would be $49,350, and that would go up more than $1,000 each additional year. Including USGS matching funds, the operating cost for 2015 is $97,950.

The program helps with detecting where flooding might occur, and it also provides geological data for the USGS, as well as the National Weather Service in Wakefield.

The service already maintains nine gages, and six new gages have recently been added — two on the Nottoway River, one near McKenney, and the other near Riverdale; two on the Blackwater River, one near Franklin and the other near Zuni; and two on the Meherrin River, one near South Hill and the other near Bryants Corner.