Paducah McCracken Co JSA Paducah Wastewater Treatment Plant, Kentucky

Paducah McCracken Co JSA Paducah is a municipal wastewater treatment plant located in Paducah, Kentucky, serving a population of around 36,348. The plant is situated in McCracken County, near the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, and plays a key role in managing wastewater for this mid-sized community. As a US facility, the plant operates under the Clean Water Act, which requires National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for discharges into surface waters. For a plant serving approximately 36,000 people, secondary treatment is typically mandated, and the plant's designed capacity is 1.00 million gallons per day, indicating a moderate scale of operations. The plant's treated effluent is discharged into the Ohio River basin, which flows into the Mississippi River and ultimately to the Gulf of Mexico. This downstream connection highlights the plant's role in protecting water quality in a major river system that supports diverse aquatic life and provides drinking water for millions downstream.

The plant discharges into the Ohio River watershed, which drains into the Mississippi River and then the Gulf of Mexico. This river system supports a wide range of aquatic species and is an important migratory corridor for fish. The plant's operations help maintain water quality in this ecologically significant basin, particularly given the downstream impacts on nutrient loading and hypoxia in the Gulf.