Belle Chasse Hwy 23 WWTP - Wastewater Treatment in Belle Chasse, Louisiana

Belle Chasse Hwy 23 WWTP is a municipal wastewater treatment facility located in Belle Chasse, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The plant serves a population of approximately 8,500 people in this suburban community south of New Orleans. As a facility in the United States, it operates under the regulatory framework of the Clean Water Act, administered by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. The plant has a designed capacity of 1.00 million gallons per day, indicating it is sized for a small to medium community. US regulations require secondary treatment for municipal plants of this scale, typically involving biological processes to reduce organic matter and suspended solids. The facility is subject to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting, which sets effluent limits to protect water quality. The treated effluent from the plant is discharged into local waterways that ultimately drain into the Mississippi River and then into the Gulf of Mexico. This region is ecologically significant, supporting diverse aquatic life and important coastal wetlands. The plant's operations help protect downstream water quality in the Mississippi River delta and the Gulf's marine environment.

The plant discharges into the Mississippi River watershed, which flows through Louisiana's delta region into the Gulf of Mexico. This area supports critical coastal wetlands and estuarine habitats that provide nursery grounds for fish and shellfish. The Mississippi River carries nutrients and pollutants from a vast basin, making local treatment important for reducing the hypoxic zone in the Gulf.