WAYNESBORO POTW - Municipal Wastewater Treatment in Waynesboro, Mississippi

WAYNESBORO POTW is a municipal wastewater treatment facility located on Marshall Durbin Drive in Waynesboro, Wayne County, Mississippi. It serves a population of about 5,900 people, classifying it as a small to medium agglomeration under U.S. regulatory frameworks. The plant is situated in a rural area of southeastern Mississippi, near the Chickasawhay River. As a U.S. facility, WAYNESBORO POTW operates under the Clean Water Act and is subject to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting. For plants serving populations around 6,000, secondary treatment is typically required to meet effluent limits for biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids. The plant's design capacity and treatment process details are not publicly available, but standard practice for this scale includes activated sludge or lagoon systems. The plant's treated effluent discharges into local streams that flow into the Chickasawhay River, a tributary of the Pascagoula River. The Pascagoula River system is one of the last free-flowing river systems in the contiguous United States, supporting diverse aquatic life including Gulf sturgeon and several mussel species. The plant's operations are important for protecting water quality in this ecologically significant watershed.

WAYNESBORO POTW discharges into local waterways that drain into the Chickasawhay River, which flows south to join the Pascagoula River before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. The Pascagoula River basin is ecologically sensitive, supporting a variety of freshwater and estuarine species. The plant's effluent management is critical to maintaining water quality in this free-flowing river system, which provides habitat for fish, mussels, and migratory birds.