Harwood Lagoon Wastewater Treatment Plant - Harwood, North Dakota

Harwood Lagoon is a municipal wastewater treatment facility located in Harwood, North Dakota, serving a small population of around 300 residents. The plant operates as a lagoon system providing secondary treatment, a common approach for small communities in the region. With a designed capacity of 492.10 megaliters and an annual discharge volume of 151.42 megaliters, the plant operates well below its capacity. Under the US Clean Water Act, facilities of this scale are typically regulated through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, which sets effluent limits to protect water quality. The plant's treated effluent is discharged into local waterways that ultimately drain into the Red River of the North, which flows north into Lake Winnipeg in Canada. This watershed supports diverse aquatic life and is an important ecological corridor in the northern Great Plains.

The plant discharges into the Red River of the North basin, which flows northward through North Dakota and Minnesota into Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. This watershed supports a variety of fish species and migratory birds, and the river's seasonal flooding creates important wetland habitats. The area is part of the Prairie Pothole Region, known for its numerous shallow wetlands that provide critical breeding grounds for waterfowl.