When I flush the toilet, where does it go?

When residents of the city of Waukesha flush their toilets, whatever is inside those toilets goes into a pipe that brings the waste from the residence to a city-owned pipe under the street.

After that, it travels by pipe to the city's Wastewater Treatment Plant, located along the banks of the Fox River at 600 Sentry Drive, just southwest of downtown Waukesha. To get there, the sewage flows through some of the 274 miles of city-owned sewer pipe used by the system, according to Superintendent Pete Conine.

The pipes range in size from six inches to more than five feet in diameter. Some of the pipes are brand new, and some, especially those in the downtown area, are more than 100 years old. The public works department utilizes more than 40 pump stations scattered throughout the city to pump the sewage over the many hills in Waukesha, Conine said.

The wastewater treatment plant, construction of which was completed in 1995, then uses several separate processes to treat the wastewater. After the sewage has gone through all the treatment processes, the treated water is eventually discharged into the Fox River.

Grit and rags collected during the cleaning process are disposed into a landfill, while the accumulated biosolids (sludge) created during the cleaning processes are eventually applied to farm fields as a fertilizer.

What do you want to know? E-mail your questions to nowyouknow@wi.rr.com.