HydroWASTE is a spatially-explicit global database of 58,502 WWTPs and their characteristics. This database was developed by combining national and regional datasets with auxiliary information to derive or complete missing WWTP characteristics, including the amount of people served. A high-resolution river network with streamflow estimates (HydroATLAS: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9890531) was used to georeference WWTP outfall locations and calculate each plant’s dilution factor (i.e., the ratio of the natural discharge of the receiving waterbody to the WWTP effluent discharge).