What does sewage mean?
Sewage is waste water and other waste matter, particularly human excrement, that is carried away through sewers or other drainage systems. In ordinary use, the word usually refers to the waste itself rather than to the pipes that carry it, although it can also denote the wider disposal process or system. The term is most often encountered in technical, environmental, and public-health contexts, including sewage treatment, sewage disposal, and raw sewage. Because it can cause serious health and environmental problems, the word often appears in discussions of sanitation infrastructure, pollution control, and wastewater regulation. It is usually treated as an uncountable noun, and specialized contexts may distinguish sewage, the waste material, from sewerage, the infrastructure used to manage it.
nounWaste water and other waste matter, especially human excrement, that are carried away through sewers. It may also refer to the system or process of carrying such waste away.
- Waste water and other waste matter, especially human excrement, carried away through sewers.
- The system or process of removing and treating such waste.
"The treatment plant works around the clock to clean sewage before it is released into the river."
"Strict controls prevented untreated sewage from reaching the coast."
"The city is investing in a modern sewage system to reduce pollution."
Sewage is normally an uncountable noun and is not pluralized.
"The report documented sewage spilling into the river."
The word 'sewage' comes from the same root as 'sewer': what flows through a sewer is sewage.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does sewage come from?
The word derives from the same historical root as sewer, through the older form 'sewerage' and the verb 'sewer,' meaning to drain or carry off water. Its development reflects the longstanding practice of removing human waste and wastewater through underground conduits. Sewer is related to Old French sewier, from a term meaning a conduit or channel for water; the modern sense developed as municipal drainage systems became widespread.
Related word forms
How sewage is actually used
Usually an uncountable noun in modern usage. 'Sewage' generally refers to the waste matter or its treatment; 'sewerage' is more often used for the infrastructure or system. It is a formal or technical term rather than ordinary conversational vocabulary.
Easily confused with sewage
Sewage is the waste material carried through a sewer, whereas a sewer is the channel or pipe that carries it.
Sewage usually refers to the waste matter itself, while sewerage refers to the system of pipes and the disposal or treatment of sewage.