_This draft wiki page is a work in progress!_
Where does water go once it flows down the sink drain? What about the water trickling down the street into storm drains? Or water discarded from industrial activities? Wastewater is “used water” that’s created by households, cities, and industry. It ranges from sewage to surface runoff that can flow from roadways into storm drains. Because wastewater can come from many different sources, it can contain a variety of pollutants—soaps and personal care products, sanitary waste, pesticides and fertilizers, and fuel, to name a few. Industrial processes might produce wastewater laced with heavy metals or heated so hot that it harms living things nearby. **Who’s affected by wastewater pollution?** Depending on where you live and what produces the wastewater, it might be collected and cleaned (“treated”) before being released back into the environment, or it might be piped pollution-and-all directly into the environment. If the wastewater is treated, different kinds of treatment vary in how effective and efficient they are. Damage to pipes and other infrastructure can also let wastewater leak into the environment. People living near places where wastewater is discharged or treated might encounter pollutants from wastewater. **On this page we’ll collect and organize resources on wastewater and how people can begin to investigate it.** Visit the [wastewater tag page](https://publiclab.org/tag/wastewater) to see the latest community posts about wastewater on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by following: Follow wastewater Sources: [Wastewater pollution](https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/wastewater/pollution.html)
## Community stories and projects Public Lab community projects tagged with `wastewater-project` will appear here [wikis:wastewater-project]
You can also find stormwater-related projects here: [https://publiclab.org/wiki/stormwater#Project+Pages](https://publiclab.org/wiki/stormwater#Project+Pages)
## Join the conversation ### Questions from the community + See if other community members are asking questions like yours + Ask a question so other community members can offer support + Sign up below to be notified when someone asks a wastewater-related question Questions tagged with `question:wastewater` will appear here [questions:wastewater]
### Post an Issue Brief Share a local concern or issue about wastewater pollution and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “[Write an Issue Brief](https://publiclab.org/wiki/issue-brief)” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one.

## Research wastewater investigating pollution _Image: @warren_ The Public Lab community is here to support people as they plan and carry out investigations into local wastewater pollution. Anyone can [ask questions](https://publiclab.org/wiki/sandbox-wastewater#Questions+from+the+community), start an [issue brief](https://publiclab.org/wiki/sandbox-wastewater#Post+an+Issue+Brief) with any amount of information available, or start [documenting a project](https://publiclab.org/wiki/projects).
### Some places to start Here are some activities you might want to try when starting to research wastewater pollution. [notes:grid:getting-started-wastewater]
#### Information on wastewater pollution ##### Sewer systems and how people get exposed to wastewater In cities and towns in the US, you’ll mostly find two different kinds of sewer systems that collect and transport wastewater: combined sewer systems and separate sewer systems. **Combined sewer systems** collect both stormwater runoff from storm drains AND raw sewage from buildings and households. The stormwater and sanitary sewage are both directed in a single pipe to a wastewater treatment plant to be cleaned. When there are heavy rains, however, this increases the amount of stormwater flowing into the combined system. Not all the extra incoming water can be handled by the wastewater treatment plant, and so the rest is released directly into the environment as a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO), raw sewage and all. In New York City, for example, [about 60% of the city is served by a combined sewer system](https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dep/water/combined-sewer-overflows.page). **Separate sewer systems** have, as one might guess, separate pipes for stormwater and sanitary sewage. Many stormwater systems in the US are Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) that have to follow regional and federal permit regulations to reduce water pollution. In most cases, though, the stormwater isn’t fully treated before it gets released into the environment. A separate sanitary sewer system transports raw sewage from households, businesses, and other buildings to a wastewater treatment plant. There, the sewage is treated and the cleaned water is released into the environment. combined sewer separate sewer
**With any kind of sewer system, there’s the threat of exposing people to wastewater**. Untreated or under-treated wastewater can make its way into waterbodies that people use for recreation, fishing, or drinking water. The wastewater might be legally released under a permit, it might be illegally dumped, or it might leak from broken pipes and other sewer system infrastructure.
##### Wastewater pollutants + [Common water contaminants](https://publiclab.org/wiki/common-water-contaminants): wiki with info on contaminant, potential sources, methods, and how to address the problem

### Methods to monitor wastewater
#### Detecting possible wastewater pollution Lots of information (in English and Spanish) about what to look for in the comments of this question: [What are some observable tell-tale signs of wastewater pollution?](https://publiclab.org/questions/bhamster/07-28-2021/what-are-some-observable-tell-tale-signs-of-wastewater-pollution) Check out this wiki page on different methods for detecting wastewater pollution: [https://publiclab.org/wiki/detecting-wastewater](https://publiclab.org/wiki/detecting-wastewater) On that page, you’ll find information on monitoring some water quality characteristics that could indicate wastewater pollution: + Water color or clarity + Odor + Water temperature + Conductivity + Indicator chemicals or components

### Activities Activities on Public Lab that have been tagged with `activity:wastewater` will appear here [activities:wastewater]

## Regulations, policy, and advocacy ### US federal regulations ### State and local regulations + https://publiclab.org/notes/gretchengehrke/10-28-2016/colorado-regulations-hotsheet#Effluent+Turbidity + https://publiclab.org/notes/liz/03-06-2014/hudson-riverkeeper-teaches-how-to-report-gowanus-pollution ### International regulations
## Further reading and resources
## Next step challenges