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What's the Urinary System (Urinary Tract)?

The urinary system (also called the urinary tract) is one of the systems our bodies use to get rid of waste products. The kidneys are the part of the urinary tract that makes urine (pee). Urine has salts, toxins, and water that need to be filtered out of the blood. After the kidneys make urine, it leaves the body using the rest of the urinary tract as a pathway.

What Are the Parts of the Urinary System (Urinary Tract)?

You drink, you pee. But urine is more than just that drink you had a few hours ago. The body produces pee as a way to get rid of waste and extra water that it doesn't need. Before leaving your body, urine travels through the urinary tract.

The urinary tract is a pathway that includes the:

  • kidneys: two bean-shaped organs that filter waste from the blood and produce urine
  • ureters: two thin tubes that take pee from the kidney to the bladder
  • bladder: a sac that holds pee until it's time to go to the bathroom
  • urethra: the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body when you pee