Authorisations and notices for discharges to water
Authorisations
You must get prior written authorisation from your environmental regulator if you intend to discharge anything other than clean, uncontaminated surface water to surface waters or ground waters. This authorisation could be in the form of:
- a discharge consent
- a groundwater regulations permit (England and Wales)
- a groundwater authorisation (Northern Ireland)
- an authorisation under the Controlled Activity Regulations (CAR) in Scotland
- an environmental permit (England and Wales)
- a pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit (Northern Ireland)
- an integrated pollution control (IPC) authorisation or pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit (Scotland).
You must comply with all of the conditions of your authorisation. If you don’t comply with the conditions you may be prosecuted and fined by your environmental regulator.
Notices
Your environmental regulator can serve a number of legal notices on you to ensure that you prevent or remedy water pollution. Your environmental regulator can serve a notice if:
- they consider it likely that a polluting substance is entering or will enter surface waters or ground waters
- a breach of authorisation has occurred or is likely to occur
- they consider it necessary for you to clean up waters that have become polluted as a result of your activities.
The notice will tell you what you must do and the timescale you have to carry out the works.
How to apply for discharge consent
England and Wales
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Case study: Breach of discharge consent cost engineering company £8,000
A Scottish engineering company was fined £8,000 after a routine inspection of engineering works revealed water contamination 48 times higher than those allowed by the site's discharge consent. The company pleaded guilty to causing silt-polluted surface water to enter the watercourse during construction of the M77 extension. Settlement lagoons were too small to cope with the quantity of silt-contaminated water run-off. The incident would have caused significant environmental damage if it had not been spotted by SEPA.
You must comply with the conditions and limits outlined in your discharge consent to avoid prosecution.
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Northern Ireland
Scotland
Controlled Activity Regulations (CAR)
In Scotland you must have authorisation from SEPA under their Controlled Activity Regulations (CAR). CAR has three levels of authorisation:
- general binding rules
- registration
- water use licences.
SEPA can change the level of authorisation for your activity in order to protect the water environment.
General binding rules
Certain low risk surface water discharges are authorised by general binding rules (GBRs). When you carry out an activity in accordance with the relevant GBRs, you do not need to contact SEPA or apply for a formal authorisation.
Registration
Registrations cover activities which individually present low risk, but which cumulatively may pose a risk to the water environment. You must provide SEPA with a description of the controlled activity and its location. You must comply with a set of basic rules described in the notification of registration.
Water use licence
Licences cover activities that are regarded as presenting a medium to high risk of impact on the water environment.
You will need a water use licence if:
- site-specific controls are needed for your activity
- constraints need to be imposed upon your activity.
There are two types of licence application, based on the scale and level of risk of your activity: a simple licence or a complex licence.
You must identify a 'responsible person' to ensure that your business complies with the conditions of the licence. A responsible person can be an individual, a company or a partnership.
