Where does sewage go?
What happens when you pull the plug, wash your clothes, have a shower or flush the toilet - where does all the water and wastes go? That there are two separate systems which carry water away from your home. Join us on a tour of the sewerage system.
Sewerage system - carries water and wastes away from your laundry, kitchen, bathroom and toilet. Stormwater system - carries any rain water away that falls on your house, garden and street.It also collects water used outside the house (e.g. for watering the garden) which is not absorbed by the soil.
Did you know that what we call sewage is over 99% water? When sewage is treated the remaining 1% - suspended solids, organic material, nutrients like phosphates and nitrates and disease-causing organisms (mainly bacteria) is removed. Find out more about the composition of sewage.
Down the plughole After water goes down the plughole, it first passes through a water-seal. This seal is a bend in the pipe that is either shaped like the letter S or the letter U and is commonly referred to as the 'S bend'. The water trapped in the bend creates a barrier that prevents smells further down the pipe from entering your house.
After the water-seal, your pipe would be joined by other pipes that carry sewage away from your home and all of this sewage would then go to a sewage treatment plant or, in a few areas, a septic tank. The best way of treating sewage from your home is by carrying it away through a reticulated sewage system to a sewage treatment plant. Homes that are not connected to a reticulated sewage system must rely on a septic system to treat the sewage on site. Stink pipes and gully traps
The next two features of a sewerage system are the stink pipe and gully trap. As sewer pipes contain organic wastes, unpleasant smelling gases can build up in these pipes. Just as water-seals are part of the fixtures in your home, there are also water-seals in the sewer pipes that carry sewage away from your home. Gully traps and stink pipes (vent pipes) are also built into these pipes. These two fittings allow gases that build up in the sewer pipes to be carried away. If the reticulation sewer becomes blocked the gully trap will also stop sewage from returning up through the system and spilling into your home. For this reason, it is not a good idea to cover over your gully trap.	Stink pipe Gully trap