Ellwood City Boro STP - Municipal Wastewater Treatment in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania

Ellwood City Boro STP is a municipal wastewater treatment plant located in Ellwood City, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. Serving a population of about 18,484, the facility is part of the region's infrastructure for managing domestic wastewater. The plant's location near the Beaver River watershed places it within a network of treatment facilities that support communities in western Pennsylvania. Under the U.S. Clean Water Act, plants of this scale are typically required to provide secondary treatment as a minimum standard. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, govern discharge limits and monitoring requirements. The regulatory framework ensures that effluent quality meets state and federal standards for protecting aquatic life and human health. The treated effluent from the plant ultimately flows into the Beaver River, a tributary of the Ohio River, which drains into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The Beaver River supports diverse aquatic species and is used for recreation and water supply downstream. The plant's operations contribute to maintaining water quality in this important regional watershed.

The plant discharges into the Beaver River watershed, which flows into the Ohio River and eventually the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico. The Beaver River supports a variety of fish and macroinvertebrate communities, and its water quality is influenced by upstream land use including agriculture and urban runoff. The plant's treatment helps reduce nutrient and pollutant loads that could otherwise contribute to eutrophication in downstream waters.