Huaniqueo Wastewater Treatment Plant, Huaniqueo de Morales, Michoacán

The Huaniqueo wastewater treatment plant is located in Huaniqueo de Morales, Michoacán, Mexico, serving a population of approximately 2,738 residents. The facility provides secondary treatment, a standard level for small communities in Mexico, ensuring basic pollutant removal before discharge. With a designed capacity of 432.00 m³/day and an average discharge volume of 259.20 m³/day, the plant operates at about 60% of its capacity. As a municipal facility in Mexico, it falls under the national water quality regulations administered by CONAGUA (Comisión Nacional del Agua), which sets discharge standards for wastewater treatment plants. The treated effluent is discharged into local water bodies that ultimately drain into the Lerma River basin, a major hydrological system in central Mexico. The Lerma River flows into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest freshwater lake, which supports diverse aquatic life and provides water for irrigation and human consumption. Proper treatment at plants like Huaniqueo helps protect downstream water quality and ecosystem health.

The plant discharges into local streams that are part of the Lerma River basin, which flows into Lake Chapala, a critical freshwater resource in central Mexico. The Lerma-Chapala basin supports agriculture, fisheries, and biodiversity, including endemic fish species. Effective secondary treatment at Huaniqueo reduces organic load and nutrients, helping to prevent eutrophication in downstream water bodies.