What's that saying? If it's yellow let it mellow; if it's brown flush it down.
Do city sewer systems continue to function if power is out for extended periods of time? What with sewage treatment and all, would the sewers get clogged and back up? Fortunately I'm on a hill, so folks on the flatlands might be concerned more than me.
“Do city sewer systems continue to function if power is out for extended periods of time? What with sewage treatment and all, would the sewers get clogged and back up?”
Yes, some do require pumps.
This is one application where a septic tank and drain field is preferred. The vast majority of them (but not all) are 100% gravity operated.
I don't know about hilly or mountainous regions, but in areas where the terrain is relatively flat both the water system and the sewage system are powered by pumps running on electric.
Where I live they supposedly have back up generators but only enough fuel for a short time.
When the sewage pumps stop the lines will back up and, like water seeking its own level, the sewage from buildings on higher ground and from multistory buildings will try to flow down into the structures on lower ground.
There are no backflow preventers built into home sewage pipes so the effluent from higher buildings will likely make its way into homes and back flow into bathtubs and out of toilets.
The same principle would apply to multistory apartment buildings. Effluent from apartments on the higher floors will likely force its way back through the system into those on the lower floors.
As poster "Wrench" said those on septic systems don't have this concern.
Also those in flat terrain away from multi story buildings will probably have less of a problem as the pipes will eventually become plugged, hopefully before backflow becomes a serious problem.