One of the major fields in water waste management is that of sewage treatment. This covers domestic sewage, commercial runoff, environmental runoff, and more. Households produce sewage as waste from their toilets, showers, sinks, and baths, which is generally either pumped into a leech field on the premises, or else sent into a central sewage system. Industrialwastewater can be particularly dangerous, often with harmful pollutants added to the water and introduced into the sewage system. In some regions, this wastewater is specially regulated, and may require a special facility to process.
A substantial problem in modern management has arisen as existing sewage systems are filled close to capacity. Many modern cities allow runoff from rainstorms to filter directly into the sewage system, which adds a stress to an already stretched system. As a result, during particularly heavy storms or storms that last for long periods of time, the rainwater may cause the sewage system to exceed its capacity, creating what is called a combined sewer overflow, which can be a mess both within the cities and on the coastline.
Sewage in a major city is generally treated at a central facility, where it is sent by an extensive series of pipes and pumps. Most management systems have three distinct tiers, referred to simply as primary, secondary, and tertiary treatments. Primary treatment involves separating solids out of the