TABLE OF CONTENTS Sewers are underground conduits to convey wastewater and stormwater to a treatment plant or to carry stormwater to the point of disposal. Sewers can be classified into three categories: sanitary, storm, and combined. Community sewer systems, according to their discharging types, can be divided into separated and combined sewer systems.
Separated sewers consist of sanitary sewers and stormwater sewer networks separately. Sanitary sewers carry a mixture of household and commercial sewage, industrial wastewater, water from groundwater infiltration/inflow, basement and foundation drainage connections, and cross-connections between sanitary sewers and stormwater drainage. Separated sanitary sewers should be free of stormwater, but they seldom are.
Storm sewers are commonly buried pipes that convey storm drainage. They may include open channel elements and culverts, particularly when drainage areas are large.
Storm sewer networks convey mainly surface storm runoff from roofs, streets, parking lots, and other surfaces toward the nearest receiving water body. An urban drainage system with separated sewers is more expensive than a combined sewer system because it uses two parallel conduits. Sanitary and storm sewers are usually designed to operate under gravity flow conditions. Pressure or vacuum sewers are rare.
Storm sewers are dry much of the time. When rainfalls are gentle, the surface runoffs are usually clear and low flows present no serious problem. However, flooding runoffs wash and erode unprotected areas and create siltation.
Illicit connections from roofs, yards, and foundations drain flow to sanitary sewers through manhole covers that are not tight.
