Crawford WWTP - Secondary Wastewater Treatment in Dawes County, Nebraska

Crawford WWTP is a municipal wastewater treatment facility located in Dawes County, Nebraska, serving a population of approximately 1,582 residents. The plant is situated in the rural High Plains region, near the Nebraska Panhandle, and provides essential sanitation services to the local community. The facility employs secondary treatment, which is the standard level required by the U.S. Clean Water Act for municipal plants of this scale. With a designed capacity of 529.96 million gallons per year and an actual discharge volume of 605.67 million gallons per year, the plant operates under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, administered by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. The treated effluent is discharged into a local waterway that ultimately drains into the Niobrara River basin, a tributary of the Missouri River. The Niobrara River supports diverse aquatic life and is an important ecological corridor in the Great Plains region, providing habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife.

Crawford WWTP discharges into a tributary of the Niobrara River, which flows into the Missouri River and eventually the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico. The Niobrara River basin is ecologically significant, supporting species such as the pallid sturgeon and piping plover. The plant's secondary treatment helps reduce nutrient and organic loads, protecting downstream water quality in this sensitive prairie river system.