See also: sewage

Sewerage refers to the infrastructure that conveys sewage. It encompasses components such as receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, and screening chambers of the sanitary sewer. Sewerage ends at the entry to a sewage treatment plant or at the point of discharge into the environment.

In loose American English usage, the terms 'sewerage' and 'sewage' are sometimes interchanged.^[1]

Implementation and usefulness[link]

In many European countries, citizens are obliged to connect their home sanitation to the national sewerage system (where possible). This has resulted in large percentages of the population being connected to a sewerage system. For example, the Netherlands have 99% of the population connected to the sewerage system, and 1% has an individual sewage disposal system, e.g., septic tank. Others have slightly lower (though still substantial) percentages; e.g., 96% for Germany and 86% for Belgium.

Purification of sewage may not always be fully implemented. For example, in Belgium, only 64% of sewage is actually purified.^[2] Owing to cost constraints, sewage may be inefficiently treated (or not treated at all)—with potentially adverse environmental consequences. One proposed solution to these difficulties is the development of 'sustainable sanitation' by means such as composting toilets.^[3][4]

See also[link]

• Sanitary sewer overflow
• Sewage collection and disposal
• Simplified sewerage

References[link]

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