Throughout Mecklenburg County, storm drains flow directly into our creeks and lakes.  That means anything dumped down a storm drain is dumped directly to our streams.  Some cities have connected or combined systems for storm water and wastewater (sanitary sewer).   Because storm water comes in large amounts at unpredictable times, treating it as wastewater would be very expensive.  If our sewage and storm water systems were combined, our treatment plants may not be able to handle flood water during heavy rains.