Urban areas require some method for collection and disposal of sewage. The term urban means cities and towns as distinct from rural areas. ... Sewage is domestic, municipal, or industrial liquid waste products. ...

Collection

Wastewater collection systems consist of buried pipelines which convey the wastewater by gravity to the treatment plant. Where pipeline excavation is difficult (e.g. rock) or there is limited topographic relief (i.e. flat terrain), gravity collection systems may not be practical and the sewage must be pumped through the pipeline (i.e. forcemains) to the treatment plant. For some low-lying communities wastewater may be conveyed by vacuum. Pipelines may range in size from pipes of six inches (150 mm) in diameter to concrete lined tunnels of up to thirty feet (10 Metre) in diameter. Gravitation is the tendency of masses to move toward each other. ...

Contaminant source control

Wastewater is collected by sanitary sewer systems (foul sewerage system in the UK) and is typically conveyed to a centralized wastewater treatment facility where it is treated in several stages to reduce the level of some contaminants. Because industrial liquid waste may contain a wide range of chemicals, solvents, and other contaminants that cannot be effectively removed by the centralized wastewater treatment plant, industries are often required to pre-treat their liquid wastes prior to discharging to sewer. Most major municipal jurisdictions in North America with significant industrial liquid waste sources have discharge bylaws that restrict the quantity and maximum level of specific contaminants that may be discharged to sewers. In the UK charges are levied on industries who discharge industrial waste to the sewers. These charges relate to volume, organic strength and their toxic metal content. Sewage treatment is the process that removes the majority of the contaminants from waste-water or sewage and produces both a liquid effluent suitable for disposal to the natural environment and a sludge. ...

Historical sewage conveyance and disposal

As recently as 100 years ago in major cities of developed countries, and up to the present day in many parts of the world, the primary concern with sewage was the matter of conveying it away from inhabited areas. Aside from its unpleasant odor, even early humans were aware that health problems arose when human waste was allowed to contaminate drinking water supplies. Odor receptors on the antennae of a Luna moth An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English) is the object of perception of the sense of olfaction. ... Drinking water is water that is intended to be drunk by humans. ...

Therefore, the historical focus of sewage treatment was on conveyance of raw sewage to a natural body of water, such as a river or ocean, where it would be satisfactorily diluted and dissipated. Early human habitations were often built next to water sources. Rivers could double as a crude form of natural sewage disposal. For the Second World War frigate class, see River class frigate The Murray River in Australia A river is a large natural waterway. ... Ocean (from Okeanos, a Greek god of sea and water; Greek ωκεανός) covers almost three quarters (71%) of the surface of the Earth. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Human beings define themselves in biological, social, and spiritual terms. ... For the Second World War frigate class, see River class frigate The Murray River in Australia A river is a large natural waterway. ...

Higher population densities required more complex sewer collection and conveyance systems in order to maintain (somewhat) sanitary conditions in crowded cities. The city of Mohenjo-daro, constructed around 2600 BC had brick lined sewage drains and also had outdoor toilets connected to this network. Ancient Minoan civilization had stone sewers that were periodically flushed with clean water. A city is an urban area, differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. ... Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ... (Redirected from 2600 BC) (27th century BC - 26th century BC - 25th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2900 - 2334 BC – Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period. ... A weathered brick wall. ... Flush toilet A toilet is a plumbing fixture devised for the disposal of bodily wastes, including urine, feces, methane, semen and vomit. ... Map of Minoan Crete The Minoans were a pre-Hellenic Bronze Age civilization in Crete in the Aegean Sea, prior to Helladic or Mycenaean culture (i. ... Sedimentary, volcanic, plutonic, metamorphic rock types of North America. ...

Roman towns and garrisons in the UK between 46 BC and 400 AD had complex sewer networks sometimes constructed out of hollowed out Elm logs which were shaped so that they butted together with the down-stream pipe providing a socket for the upstream pipe.

A significant development was the construction of a network of sewers to collect waste water. In some cities, including Rome and Istanbul (Constantinople), networked ancient sewer systems continue to function today as collection systems for those cities' modernized sewer systems. Instead of flowing to a river or the sea, the pipes have been re-routed to modern sewer treatment facilities. A wide variety of systems of interconnected components are called networks. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Democratici di Sinistra) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost 4,000,000 1... Shows the Location of the Province Ä°stanbul Suleymaniye Mosque seen from Tepebaşı (January 2005) Istanbul (Turkish: Ä°stanbul; contraction of the citys previous Greek name Constantinople) is the largest city in Turkey, and arguably the most important. ... Map of Constantinople. ...

However, many cities had no sewers and relied on nearby rivers or occasional rain to wash away sewage. In some cities, waste water simply ran down the streets, which had stepping stones to keep pedestrians out of the muck, and eventually drained as runoff into the local watershed. This was enough in early cities with few occupants but the growth of cities quickly overpolluted streets and became a constant source of disease. Even as recently as the late 19th Century sewerage systems in parts of the highly industrialised UK were so inadequate that water borne diseases such as Cholera and Typhoid were still common. In Merthyr Tydfil, a large town in South Wales, most houses discharged their sewage to individual cess-pits which persistently overflowed causing the pavement (sidewalk) to be awash with foul sewage. Sewers transport wastewater from buildings to treatment facilities. ... For the Second World War frigate class, see River class frigate The Murray River in Australia A river is a large natural waterway. ... Rain Rain is a form of precipitation, other forms of which include snow, sleet, hail, and dew. ... Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by any anthropogenic influence. ... A watershed or catchment basin is the region of land whose water drains into a specified body of water, such as a river, lake, sea, or ocean. ... Pollution is the release of harmful environmental contaminants, or the substances so released. ... A disease is any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected or those in contact with the person. ... Merthyr Tydfil (Welsh: Merthyr Tudful) is a town and county borough in the traditional county of Glamorgan, south Wales, with a population of about 55,000. ... See also Septic tank Wastewater treatment Waste management Categories: Move to Wiktionary | Language stubs | Waste | Sewerage ...

See also

• Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers
• sewage
• sewage treatment
• William Lindley - pioneering 19th century engineer
• John Todd

The Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers (5S) is used by water environment associations (i. ... Sewage is domestic, municipal, or industrial liquid waste products. ... Sewage treatment is the process that removes the majority of the contaminants from waste-water or sewage and produces both a liquid effluent suitable for disposal to the natural environment and a sludge. ... William Lindley (7 September 1808 - 22 May 1900) was a famous British engineer who together with his sons designed water and sewerage systems for over 30 cities across Europe. ... Dr. John Todd (1939- ) is an important biologist working in the field of ecological design. ...

External links

• What happens to all the stuff that goes down the toilet? (from The Straight Dope)

Cecil Adams is the pen name of the author of The Straight Dope since 1973, a popular question and answer column published in The Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online. ...