ST JOE STATE PARK Wastewater Treatment Plant, Park Hills, Missouri

ST JOE STATE PARK is a wastewater treatment plant located near Park Hills, Missouri, in Saint Francois County. The facility serves a small population of 127 people, reflecting its role as a local municipal plant for a state park and surrounding area. The plant provides secondary treatment, which is the standard level required under the US Clean Water Act for most municipal facilities. It has a designed capacity of 11.36 megaliters and discharges approximately 7.57 megaliters of treated wastewater annually. As a small plant, it operates under state-level NPDES permits issued by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The treated effluent is discharged into a local waterway that drains into the St. Francis River, a tributary of the Mississippi River system. This ultimately flows to the Gulf of Mexico, making the plant part of a vast watershed that supports diverse aquatic life and commercial fisheries downstream.

The plant's discharge enters a local stream that feeds into the St. Francis River, which flows through southeastern Missouri into the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River carries the water to the Gulf of Mexico, a large marine ecosystem that supports important fisheries and migratory bird habitats. The plant's secondary treatment helps reduce nutrient loads that could contribute to hypoxia in the Gulf.