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Wha t Can You Do to Protec t Loca l Wa terways?Flush ResponDon’t pour household cleansers, beauty prodfluids, paint, and law ndow n th e drain. Propeat your local householfacility.

Wastewater treatment facito treat organic materials,chemicals . If you podown the drain, they miglocal rivers, lakes, and coa

Dispose of excess hou sfats, lard, cooking oil,and margarine, etc.) dand personal hygiene garbage can.

These materials can clog pcause raw sewage to ovehome or yard, or in publoften occur during periosnowmelt and can result

backups, overflows at mdischarges directly to rivecoastal waters.

Don’t pour used motoUsed motor oil can dimieffectiveness of the treatmmight allow contaminan

The contaminants could waterways or harm aqua

If you’re a dark room spent fixer, developer,photographic chemicalcontainers and t ranspohazardous waste facili

Like household hazardoumotor oil, photographic interfere with the wastewprocess and could result discharged into local wa

Wastewat er Treatment 101 Many communities have a wastewater treatmentplant that incorporates a series of processes toremove pollutants from water used in homes,

small businesses, industries, and other facilities.All wastewater first goes through the primarytreatment process , which involves screeningand settling out large particles.

The wastewater then moves on to thesecondary t reatment process , during whichorganic matter is removed by allowing bacteriato break down the pollutants. The treatedwastewater is then usually disinfected withchlorine to remove the remaining bacteria.

Some communities go one step further and putthe wastewater through an advancedtreatment process to reduce the level ofpollutants of special concern to the localwaterbody, such as nitrogen or phosphorus.After this step, the treated water finally flowsthrough pipes back to a local water body.

Secondary

Primary

Advanced

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?Prot ect theEnvironment in Our

Community

Prot ect theEnvironment in Our

Community

For more information onthe wastewater treatment

process, please contactyour local health or publicwor ks department. Please

visit ww w.epa.gov/owmfor more information onwastewater treatment.

WhereD oes All theD irt y Water

Go?

Not Do wnMy D rain!

cleaners beauty

products medicine auto fluids paint lawn care

products

grease diapers

condoms feminine hygiene

products motor oil photographic

chemicals

Where does th e wa te r go a f t e ry o u f l u s h t h e t o i l e t o r d r a i n t h e si n k s

i n y o u r h o m e? When the w astewater flushed from your toilet

or dr ained from your household sinks, w ashingmachine, or dishwasher leaves your home, it flowsthrough your community's sanitary sewer system to

a wastewater treatm ent facility. The w astew ater fromhomes, along with wastewater from businesses,

industries, and other facilities, is treated by a variety ofprocesses (see inside for more information) to reduce or

remove po llutants.

W h a t h a p p e n s t o t h e t r e a t e d w a t e r w h e ni t l e av e s t h e w a st e w a t e r t r e at m e n t p l a n t ? The treated wastewat er is released int o local w aterw ayswhere it’s used again for any number of purposes, such

as supplying drinking water, irrigating crops, andsustaining aquatic life.

?

What You Flush or Pour Down YoDrain Affect s th e Rivers, Lakes

and Coastal Waters inOur Community

EPA 832-F-03-008December 2002

United StatesEnvironmental ProtectionAgency