What are drains in cities?

Drains are like secret rivers that help keep our cities clean and dry.

Imagine you're playing outside after it rains, and water is everywhere, on the sidewalk, in your shoes, even in your puddle-favorite spot. That’s messy! But drains are there to help. They’re like tiny tunnels under the streets that carry away all that extra water.

When it rains, water flows into grates, those metal covers you see on the street. The grates act like funnels, guiding water down into the drains below. Once inside, the water travels through long pipes, just like how your toy cars zoom along tracks.

Sometimes, these pipes get clogged with leaves or trash, like when a blockage stops your favorite snack from coming out of the vending machine. But most of the time, the drains do their job so well that you barely notice them, until it rains again!