You may need an environmental permit if you discharge liquid effluent or waste water: Show
Waste water includes:
If your water discharge or groundwater discharge is part of a waste operation, installation or mining waste operation, you can make the discharge part of your installation permit or waste or mining waste permit.
You’re breaking the law if you operate without a permit when you should have one. Check if the waste water is domestic sewage or trade effluentAs part of your permit application, or to know whether your activity qualifies for an exemption, you must classify your waste water. Read more about when your waste water is classed as domestic sewage. When you do not need a permitYou do not need a permit:
You do not need a permit to discharge to an enclosed lake or pond. This means a lake or pond in which all of the following apply:
You must use appropriate pollution prevention measures to make sure your discharge does not cause pollution. For discharges of uncontaminated water (such as rainwater) from excavations, you do not currently need an environmental permit if you meet the requirements of the temporary dewatering from excavations to surface water regulatory position statement. The Environment Agency’s approach to groundwater protection is explained in its groundwater protection position statements. Exempt water discharge and groundwater activitiesYou will not need an environmental permit for the following activities if you meet certain conditions. Check if you’re exempted from requiring an environmental permit: Check the guidance for open-loop heat pump systems to find out if you:
Discharges in sewered areasYou should discharge your waste water to the public foul sewer whenever it’s reasonable to do so. You do not need an environmental permit to do this. To find out if there is a public foul sewer near your property, contact your local water company. You may also need to ask your neighbours if their properties are connected to the public foul sewer, as water companies’ maps may not show all their sewers near you. You must check with your sewerage undertaker (usually your local water company) before you:
Permits in sewered areasThe Environment Agency will not give you a permit for a private sewage treatment system if it’s reasonable for you to connect to the public sewer. Their assessment of what is reasonable takes into account:
They also consider how close you are to a public foul sewer. It’s likely that they will consider it reasonable for you to connect to a public foul sewer in the following scenarios. For a single domestic propertyIf any boundary of the premises that your system serves is within 30 metres of the public foul sewer. If you’re building a development of more than one propertyIf the distance from the boundary (of the premises that your system serves) to the nearest public foul sewer is less than the number of houses multiplied by 30 metres.
Example If there are 3 properties then it’s if the distance is less than 90 metres (3 × 30 metres). In some cases, the Environment Agency may ask you to consider connecting to the public foul sewer if it’s further away. If some or all of your discharge is from anything other than domestic propertiesIf there are any public foul sewers within the distance from the boundary of the premises that your system serves, calculated using the following method. Divide the maximum volume in cubic metres that you want to discharge from those other premises by 0.75 (1 cubic metre is 1000 litres). Multiply the result by 30 metres. This will give you a result in metres.
Example A discharge of 1.2 cubic metres divided by 0.75 gives 1.6, which multiplied by 30 gives a result of 48 metres. So, in this example, it’s if there is a public foul sewer within 48 meters. If you cannot connect to a public foul sewerIf there is a good reason why you cannot connect to the public foul sewer (for example, if there is a river or a railway line in the way) then you must apply for a permit. You must provide evidence to justify this when you apply - this is explained in the guidance for part B6 of the application form. The Environment Agency will decide whether to allow you to use a private sewerage system or whether you should connect to the public foul sewer instead. Trade effluent dischargesFor trade effluent discharges, you must either:
If you do this you do not need to apply for an environmental permit for the discharge. If your sewerage undertaker has refused to grant consent for trade effluent to sewer, you must provide details of the reasons when you apply for a permit to discharge to the environment. Planning new developmentsIf you’re planning a new development, plan your foul sewerage at an early stage and consult with the local council and sewerage undertaker. If you got planning permission on the basis that the development will be connected to the public foul sewer, this indicates it’s likely to be reasonable to do so. The Environment Agency will not normally give you a permit for use of a private sewage treatment system based on the nearest public foul sewer not having enough capacity. If necessary, you should agree improvements to the sewerage network with the sewerage undertaker so you can connect to it. These improvements must be put in place before the development is occupied. This reflects planning practice guidance and building regulations. Building and paying for a new sewerYour sewerage undertaker may have a legal duty to build and pay for a new sewer for you to connect to (known as a ‘first time sewerage’) if:
Contact your sewerage undertaker to find out how to apply. If you’ve applied to the sewerage undertaker but are unhappy with their decision, you can contact the Environment Agency to appeal. Check that you’re the ‘legal operator’You must be the ‘legal operator’ of the water discharge or groundwater activity that you want a permit for. This means you must have sufficient control of the activity. For example, you:
You can have contractors carry out activities at your site and remain the operator, provided you have sufficient control of the activity. But sometimes a contractor may become the legal operator based on the tests previously described. A remote holding company is unlikely to have sufficient control. If you’re no longer the operator you must formally transfer the permit to the person who is the operator. If you continue to operate an activity when you’re no longer the legal operator, the Environment Agency may take enforcement action against you or revoke the permit. You must apply as a ‘legal entity’ that can be legally responsible for the permit and can accept liability. For example, as:
As the operator you’re legally responsible for the activity whether or not it’s in operation. Your application can be refused if the Environment Agency does not consider you to be the operator or a legal entity. Joint operators of one activityIf your activity has more than one operator acting together, you should make one joint application for all the operators. For example if several people jointly operate a treatment plant then they would all be named on the permit. If an operator diesThe permit should be transferred to someone else. The transfer application should be sent to the Environment Agency within 6 months of the date of death. Otherwise, the permit will not be valid after that date. Fees and charges for permitsYou must pay a fee to apply for a permit. The application charges are listed in table 1.3 of the environmental permits and abstraction licences: tables of charges. You must send payment with your application. If your application is successful, the Environment Agency will charge you an annual ‘subsistence’ fee while you have a permit. This fee depends on your activity and the type of permit you have. You can contact the Environment Agency if you need help working out how much to pay. Apply for a standard rules permitYou may be able to apply for a standard rules permit if you operate a small sewage treatment plant for secondary treatment of domestic sewage discharging to surface water. Your small sewage treatment plant must discharge between 5 and 20 cubic metres of domestic treated sewage to surface water a day. (For example, your plant treats sewage from a small hotel or bed and breakfast, not a single household.) If your domestic sewage discharge to surface water is less than 5 cubic metres a day and you meet all the relevant general binding rules, you do not need a permit. Your operation must meet the description and rules, but:
If there’s a public foul sewer within 800 metres of any boundary of the premises the treatment system serves, you cannot meet the conditions for a standard rules permit. If you do not meet the conditions for a standard rules permit you must apply for a bespoke permit. Before you apply for a standard rules permitYou must:
Standard rules permits: application formsDownload and fill in forms: Send your completed forms and payment to . Or post them to: Environment Agency Permitting and Support Centre Environmental Permitting Team Quadrant 2 99 Parkway Avenue Parkway Business Park Sheffield S9 4WF Apply for a bespoke permitYou must apply for a bespoke permit if your activity does not meet the conditions for:
Before you apply for a bespoke permitYou must:
An environmental permit does not give you any right or permission to discharge where you do not own the land where you intend to discharge. If necessary, you must:
If you’re a statutory sewerage undertaker, or are applying to Ofwat to be appointed as one, you must follow the guidance relevant to: When you apply for a bespoke permit you must tell the Environment Agency if your discharge will contain specific substances. If it does, your risk assessment must include a specific substances assessment. Check the list of surface water specific substances in the surface water pollution risk assessment guide. For discharges to groundwater, a specific substances assessment is needed for hazardous substances and non-hazardous pollutants. This does not include discharges that only contain or are only likely to contain ammoniacal nitrogen, ammonium and suspended solids. Check the Water Framework Directive UKTAG website’s list of hazardous substances and non-hazardous pollutants for groundwater. Bespoke permits: application formsStandalone water discharge and groundwater activity permit (not open-loop heat pump systems)Download and fill in forms: Open-loop heat pump systemsDownload and fill in forms: Standalone groundwater discharges with spreading activities permitDownload and fill in forms: Send your applicationWhen you send your application you must include:
Send your application and payment to . Or post them to: Environment Agency Permitting and Support Centre Environmental Permitting Team Quadrant 2 99 Parkway Avenue Parkway Business Park Sheffield S9 4WF Consultations on permit applicationsThe Environment Agency consults on:
The Environment Agency will publish a notice of your application online and instructions for how other people can see and comment on it. Members of the public and anyone interested in the application have 20 working days to comment. The Environment Agency may also consult other public bodies, for example local councils, Public Health England, water companies and Natural England. If the Environment Agency considers your application to be of high public interest, they may:
When the Environment Agency consults on your permit application they will let people see the information in your application. You can ask the Environment Agency not to make public any information that is commercially sensitive for your business (for example, financial information). You can do this by including a letter with your application that gives your reasons why you do not want this information made public. The Environment Agency will email or write to you within 20 days if they agree to your request. They will tell you if they need more time to decide. If they do not agree to your request they will tell you how to:
After you applyThe Environment Agency may send back your application if, for example, you have:
Examples of insufficient information include:
The information required is explained in the application form guidance. It depends on the type of application you are making. The Environment Agency will check that you’ve sent this information and the correct payment. If you have not, they will contact you and you will need to send this within 5 working days. Once the Environment Agency is satisfied they have the information and payment required to start assessing your application, they will contact you to tell you that your application is ‘duly made’. This means they are starting the assessment process. If the Environment Agency needs any more information from you at the assessment stage, they will contact you to tell you what you need to send. If the Environment Agency cannot progress your application any further, they will return it to you. They may keep part of your application charge where they have spent time reviewing your application and requesting information. This is explained in the environmental permitting charges guidance. Decisions about your permitThe Environment Agency will write to you to tell you their decision. The time this takes depends on:
They usually make decisions on applications within:
They will tell you if your application will take longer. The Environment Agency will publish the decision on the public register. Appeal a decisionYou can appeal if the Environment Agency refuses your application. Examples of why they may refuse an application are:
You can also appeal if you applied for a bespoke permit and you’re not happy with the conditions. The decision letter will explain how you can appeal. When you get a permitYou must comply with your permit’s conditions. Find out how the Environment Agency will regulate you when you start operating. If you need to you can:
Find out how to change, transfer or cancel your permit. If you need helpYou should get advice from a competent service engineer if you need help understanding what treatment system you have. British Water provides a list of accredited service engineers. There may be other competent service engineers. If you are sure you need a permit you can ask the Environment Agency for advice before you apply. |