In the Twin Cities region, most homes, businesses, schools, industries, and the other places we work and play are connected to one of the Metropolitan Council's nine wastewater treatment plants through an extensive network of sewer pipes.

Whenever someone takes a shower, flushes a toilet, or runs a washing machine, the used water is carried through a pipe away from the property into a municipal sanitary sewer pipe. That pipe, in turn, is connected to a regional sewer interceptor, and finally to the wastewater treatment plant.
Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES) operates and maintains the regional interceptor system and all nine regional treatment plants.