# sewage lines in a city

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sewage-lines-in-a-city/159831>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 8, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sewage-lines-in-a-city/159831 "2003-03-08T01:55:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jordanthorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e47c2d/32.png) [@jordanthorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanthorn)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sewage-lines-in-a-city/159831/1 "2003-03-08T01:55:31Z")

</div>

I wonder how it is when I flush my toilet that whatever I flushed keeps going on to some destination other than right outside my house. It is hard to imagine that gravity is sufficient, after all not everyone lives on a hill. Are there pumps buried under ground that I never hear or know of? And about hills - there is one neighborhood near me that lies in the low spot between surrounding hills, how does the sewage waste get sent away?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sewage-lines-in-a-city/159831/2 "2003-03-08T02:16:56Z")

</div>

Sometimes lift stations are used but most is just gravity. Those pipes can be a hunderd feet u/g when they reach the water treatment plant.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![honkytonkwillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@honkytonkwillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/honkytonkwillie)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sewage-lines-in-a-city/159831/3 "2003-03-08T10:58:31Z")

</div>

I happen to work for a wastewater utility, and I’ve learned that sewer lines are laid out to flow down hill as much as they can.

At local low points, lift stations are installed. A lift station is simply a place where water collects, and is pumped (lifted) to a higher level where it again can gravity flow towards the treatment plant.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sewage-lines-in-a-city/159831/4 "2003-03-08T16:15:48Z")

</div>

Yep, we have pumps on the bottom of our major slopes. But we also have one line for gutter water & one line for sewer. Right now they are about to put in a $500,000 thingy to direct the gutter water into the sewer system so it won’t flow into the bay.

jordanthorn, some cities have sewer maps if you want to see a pipe layout.