Gundelsheim Hochstberg Tiefenbach Wastewater Treatment Plant, Herbolzheim, Germany

Gundelsheim Hochstberg Tiefenbach is a former wastewater treatment plant located in Herbolzheim, within the Heilbronn district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The plant served a small population of approximately 1,300 people and was designed to handle a capacity of 2,100 cubic meters per day. It is now closed and no longer operational. The plant provided secondary treatment, which is the standard biological treatment required under the EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) for agglomerations of this size. For populations under 2,000, the directive allows appropriate treatment, but secondary treatment is common for small communities in Germany to ensure environmental protection. The plant's discharge volume was recorded at 762.11 m³/day. The treated effluent from this plant would have discharged into local watercourses that ultimately drain into the Neckar River basin, a major tributary of the Rhine. The Rhine flows through Germany and the Netherlands into the North Sea. The plant's operation contributed to protecting the local watershed and downstream aquatic ecosystems from untreated wastewater pollution.

The plant's discharge would have entered small streams in the Neckar River basin, which flows into the Rhine River and eventually the North Sea. This watershed supports diverse aquatic life and is an important ecological corridor. The plant's secondary treatment helped reduce organic pollutants and nutrients, protecting downstream water quality in a region characterized by agricultural and urban land use.