Urban sanitary sewer systems can aid in preventing inundation, and can improve civil health by effectively disposing stormwater and wastewater. However, since sewage odor can cause adverse effects, numerous technical and administrative studies have been conducted for reducing such odor. European countries and the United States of America (USA) built modern sewer systems in the late 19th century, and have since been endeavoring to eliminate sewage odors. Several cities of the USA, such as Los Angeles (LA) that has a separate sewer system and San Francisco (SF) that has a combined sewer system, have produced and distributed odor control master plan manuals. Features common in the odor reduction plans of both these cities are that the odor reduction programs are operated in all the respective local regions and are supported by administrative systems. The primary aspectual difference between the two said programs is that the city of LA employs a sewage air purification system, whereas the city of SF controls the emission of major odor causing compounds. Compared to the existing sewer odor reduction systems of these two cities, South Korea is still in the initial phase of development. Through technical studies and policy implementations for sewer odor reduction, a foundation can be laid for improving the civil health quality.