Many liquids that people commonly pour down the drain are not compatible with the sewers system. What you pour down the drain can cause problems in the pipes and at the sewage treatment plant. Treatment plants are designed to treat human wastes and are not capable of treating petroleum products, solvents, and many other household products and common chemicals.

Solvents and petroleum products such as mineral spirits, paint thinner, acetone and gasoline can create an explosive atmosphere in the sewer lines. An example of this was the explosion of a section of Louisville, Kentucky's sewer system after a local industry disposed of Hexane in the sewer system.

Pest control products and weed killers can also be toxic to the sewer system or pass through the treatment plant into the local streams. The two sewage plants that treat Lexington's sewage use biological systems in the treatment process. The process utilizes millions of live bacteria to break down the sewage wastes. Pest and weed killers can shock or even kill the biological mass. This can result in wastes passing through the plant untreated into the receiving streams. Many of these chemicals aren't treatable and pass through the sewer plant and into the streams where they are toxic to fish and other aquatic life.

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