MER ROUGE STP - Morehouse Parish, Louisiana Wastewater Treatment Plant

MER ROUGE STP is a municipal wastewater treatment plant located in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, serving a small population of 586 residents. The plant is situated in a rural area of northeastern Louisiana, near the city of Bastrop. The plant provides secondary treatment, which is the standard level required by the US Clean Water Act for municipal facilities. It has a designed capacity of 757.08 m³/day and currently treats an average of 378.54 m³/day, indicating it operates well below its capacity. As a US facility, it operates under an EPA NPDES permit issued by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, which sets effluent limits to protect water quality. The treated effluent is discharged into local streams that are part of the Ouachita River basin. The Ouachita River flows south through Louisiana, eventually joining the Red River and then the Mississippi River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The plant's discharge contributes to the overall water quality of this extensive river system, which supports diverse aquatic life and provides drinking water for downstream communities.

The plant discharges into small streams within the Ouachita River watershed. The Ouachita River flows through northeastern Louisiana, eventually merging with the Red River and then the Mississippi River, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico. The receiving waters support a variety of fish and wildlife, including migratory birds along the Mississippi Flyway. The region's flat terrain and slow-moving rivers make water quality sensitive to nutrient loading, which secondary treatment helps mitigate.