Sewage systems dispose of wastewater and materials from their origin. There are three types: mains sewer, storm sewer, and septic tank. The oldest sewage system still in use is nearly 3,000 years old. Sewage systems date back nearly 5,000 years.
A sewage system carries wastewater and materials away from their point of origin so they can be disposed of or treated. There are three main varieties of modern sewage systems. Cities often have two types of systems, the sewer system, which moves clean water and waste, and the sewer system, which moves dirty water and human waste. In areas where buildings are not connected to a city system there is the third type of sewer system, the septic tank. This moves the wastewater away from the house where it breaks overtime.
Sewage systems increased with the invention of cities. As a result, there are records of sewage systems dating back nearly 5,000 years. While most of these early systems were rudimentary by modern standards, some of these systems are still in operation. The oldest sewage system still in use is nearly 3,000 years old. This case is the exception rather than the norm and most sewage systems are no more than 200 years old.
Most cities use two unconnected sewage systems, the mains sewer and the mains sewer. Storm sewers collect rainwater and other clean water. These sewers have the drainage grates commonly seen on city streets. This system typically contains street waste and dirt, but no actual sewage. In many cases, cities simply filter this water to remove any garbage or waste and allow it to drain, untreated, into a local water source. Because the water is clean, it typically won’t have any environmental impact.
The other type of sewage system is for effluent. This is the current municipal sewer system. This system collects human waste and wastewater from homes and businesses and pumps it to a treatment facility. This structure filters the water, removing solid substances such as human waste and garbage. Water and solids go through various processes where harmful microorganisms within the substances are removed, killed or consumed. Once the level of harmful bacteria in the water has returned to natural levels, the water is returned to the local system.
The third common sewage system is a septic tank. This type of system is in a location where a connection to a city system is not available. With a septic tank, wastewater is moved a short distance from the building and stored in a tank. The solids float to the bottom and are digested by specialized organisms in the tank. The remaining liquid, now much cleaner, drains into the surrounding soil. Once there, natural processes remove the rest of the waste before the water returns to the local system.
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