Effluent sewer
Effluent sewers also currently serve fewer people than septic systems, which also use septic tanks, but simply dispose of the effluent by draining it into a leach field. About one quarter of United States homes dispose of their wastewater with septic tanks. However, effluent sewers are being looked at as a sewage treatment solution in areas where gravity sewer systems are not well-suited or when the high capital cost to build a gravity system is prohibitive. Areas that are less than ideal for gravity systems include areas that are large, but extremely flat and areas that require long-distance pumping, such as where homes are widely spread out or when several small villages or towns connect their sewage systems so that a centralized plant can be built.
Voutsaras, Ioannina
An architectural pattern typical for the village consists of a two-floor house: the top floor is fully walled and serves as the residential area for one or more families, whereas the ground floor is used for housing livestock (goats, sheep, swine). Less wealthy families, who cannot afford a two-floor house share living quarters with the livestock. There are plans to construct centralised plumbing facilities for the disposal of sewage in the near future, so as to replace the current practice of using septic tanks which drain in the nearby river Thyamis.