Lagoon systems: wastewater treatment plants in Georgia
142 plants · 55% of the state · 120 MGD reported by 117 plants
Klarifi identifies 142 publicly owned wastewater treatment plants with lagoon systems in Georgia, 55% of the 256 plants in the state (120 MGD reported by 117 plants). The largest is Dekalb County Department Of Watershed Management (snapfinger Creek Awtf) in Decatur at 28.92 MGD.
Lagoon systems treat wastewater in large earthen ponds over weeks of retention time, with or without mechanical aeration. They serve thousands of small towns because they are cheap to run, but they struggle with ammonia and nutrient limits, fill with sludge over decades and are the plants most often converted or upgraded when a permit is renewed.
The largest lagoons in Georgia
| # | Facility | City | Avg flow (MGD) | NPDES permit | Expires | Violations (3y) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dekalb County Department Of Watershed Management (snapfinger Creek Awtf) | Decatur | 28.92 | GA0024147 | Mar 2029 | 1 |
| 2 | Pole Bridge Creek Advanced Wastewater Facility | Lithonia | 28.92 | GA0026816 | Mar 2029 | 4 |
| 3 | Clayton County Water Authority (northeast Wrf) | Rex | 4.19 | GA0020575 | Mar 2031 | 0 |
| 4 | Barnesville, City Of (james A. King Wwtf) | Barnesville | 3.63 | GA0021041 | Nov 2030 | 8 |
| 5 | City Of Cumming | Cumming | 3.59 | GA0046019 | Aug 2028 | 0 |
| 6 | Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority (bear Creek Water Treatment & Transmission) | Bogart | 3.32 | GAG640048 | Dec 2030 | 0 |
| 7 | Clayton County Water | Hampton | 2.58 | GA0038369 | Feb 2031 | 0 |
| 8 | Savannah Wilshire - Windsor WPCP | Savannah | 2.54 | GA0020443 | Aug 2031 | 0 |
| 9 | Fayetteville, City Of (whitewater Creek Wpcp) | Fayetteville | 2.38 | GA0035807 | Sep 2026 | 0 |
| 10 | Cordele, City Of (gum Creek Wpcp) | Cordele | 2.11 | GA0024503 | Jul 2027 | 24 |
Contacts and project signals for every plant on this list
Klarifi adds verified decision-maker contacts, permit limits, discharge monitoring data and the capital projects planned in each city, filterable by technology, size and compliance record.
Other technologies in Georgia
Lagoon systems in other states
Lagoon systems in Georgia: questions
Sources and methodology
Flow, permit and violation figures come from the EPA's ICIS-NPDES discharge monitoring records. Population served comes from the Clean Watersheds Needs Survey 2022. Treatment structures are identified by Klarifi's review of aerial imagery, and capital improvement projects are extracted from published municipal budget documents. Violations are counted over the last three years of monitoring reports.
Data refreshed October 26, 2026.
Wastewater terms: WWTP · POTW · Biosolids · Inflow and infiltration · Sludge dewatering · all terms