FRANKLIN — Appalachia had the Hatfields and the McCoys. Shakespeare’s Verona had the Capulets and the Montagues. Now Franklin has what the locals here are terming the “Pluggers” and the “Flushers.”

Both groups are immersed in a contentious feud that has divided camp owners and other users of the 380-acre Georges Pond north of town.

Too much water, if you ask the Pluggers. Just the right amount, according to the Flushers.

Last fall, the town replaced two small culverts with one larger culvert as a means of keeping water off the roadway during heavy rains.

Big mistake, the Pluggers claim. No big deal, say the Flushers.

Concerns that the new culvert is excessively lowering the pond’s water level have prompted more than one attempt to plug the outlet with boards and large rocks. On July 12, within hours of the town dispatching a contractor to remove the rocks, the culvert was blocked with rocks again. It remained blocked early this week, slowing the flow of water into Georges Brook to a trickle.

Officials from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said Monday the ongoing tug-of-war is taking its toll on brook trout and other aquatic wildlife downstream in Georges Brook.

Both agencies agree that more water from Georges Pond needs to flow into the brook to protect the downstream habitat.

“The key thing is to get some water in that brook ASAP for the maintenance of aquatic life,” said Rick Jordan, a Jonesboro-based fisheries biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “You need to get water down there so that what’s still alive can stay alive.”

Jordan was among nearly 100 people who gathered Monday night at the Franklin Community Center to discuss with the Board of Selectmen concerns about how the new culvert is affecting the level of the pond.

“Frankly, the situation that exists tonight is totally not acceptable,” Jordan said. “The situation is barely perceptible outflow, and it’s a situation that needs to be remedied very soon, or the fish aren’t going to survive.

“Our concern is that the aquatic life in the stream will not survive. The fish in the stream are on an egg timer that is running out of sand. It is entirely possible that some fish have already died.”

A show of hands early into nearly three hours of sometimes unruly and confrontational debate showed that about half of those on hand Monday thought the pond’s water level is too low. The other half disagreed.

This week’s meeting was a continuation of a July 3 selectmen’s meeting at which a volunteer committee of concerned camp owners was organized to develop strategies for addressing the issue. Members of that committee disagreed Monday on possible solutions and will continue studying the situation.

The impasse has Doug Hitchings, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, at wit’s end.

“We don’t have a compromise tonight,” he said Monday. “Even the people on the committee are not in agreement.”

For the short term, John Cullen, an environmental specialist with the Maine DEP office in Bangor, has agreed to work with volunteers in realigning the rocks and the board now blocking the culvert to increase the flow into Georges Brook.

Cullen said his agency has no jurisdiction for determining what the water level of Georges Pond should be.

“You are better off deciding this among yourselves,” Cullen said. “DEP has no authority to set water levels. It’s up to you.

“I will go down and make sure there is adequate flow going through that pipe. I expect we’re going to be working on this for some time.”

Hitchings encouraged both factions to stop tampering with the culvert.

“Everybody out there needs to leave it alone while we continue with the surveys and designs that people are working on,” he said.

Cullen agrees.

“The worst problem is the yo-yoing of the water level, up and down,” he said.

High water levels contribute to shoreline erosion that can increase levels of phosphorus in pond water that encourage alga blooms. Low water levels can affect water temperature and contribute to a deficiency in dissolved oxygen, which can impact brook trout and other species of fish.

Cullen said whoever is dumping rocks into the lake is violating the Natural Resources Protection Act.

“These people have taken matters into their own hands,” he said. “I told the town they could put a board in place, but not a board and four or five 500-pound rocks. You can’t dump rocks into a lake without a permit.”