Permit To Discharge

If you need a permit to discharge you will need to apply to either the EA or the water company.

The Environment Agency controls discharges to controlled waters (surface water and groundwater). The local water company grants permits for trade effluent to the local sewerage network.

Permit To Discharge Trade Effluent

This is granted by the local Utilities company and allows businesses such as food factories etc to discharge to the foul sewer. Effluents into the foul sewer can be quite polluting and may need some form of pre-treatment.

Permits To Discharge To A Controlled Watercourse

These environmental permits or “consents” are granted by the Environment Agency. You can discharge to surface water (rivers) or Groundwater (borehole or drainage field). You will therefore need to do a percolation test to ensure the ground will not flood and can accept extra water volume.

In some instances you can discharge a mixture of treated sewage effluent and trade effluent. However the receiving watercourse must be capable therefore of accepting the extra volume.

When deciding to apply for either a trade effluent consent or environmental permit. You will need to know the characteristics of the effluent and the volumes you wish to discharge. You will also need to take samples in order to know what is in your effluent. Most factories can easily what is in their effluent by identifying the chemicals in their MSDS or COSHH data sheets.

Permit To Discharge

We have helped many industrial businesses. We can therefore help you apply for the correct permit and can help with all of the data and analysis.

All permits, whether trade effluent or surface water may require some form of water modelling. The receiving water course or sewer must be capable of accepting your effluent.

A permit to discharge is required from the Environment Agency for the following.

• Treated sewage effluent from a treatment plant to surface water
• Treated sewage effluent from a treatment plant to groundwater
• Dewatering from an excavation to surface water
• Dewatering from an excavation to groundwater
• Boiler water blowdown to surface water
• Discharge from an industrial process to surface water or groundwater
• Discharge from residential properties/caravan parks to surface water or groundwater.

A permit to discharge to a foul sewer is called a “Trade Effluent Consent”. This is granted by the local Water Company to any industrial businesses that want to discharge to the foul sewer system. We do not therefore usually deal with Trade Eflluent Discharge Consents. Mainly with permits from the Environment Agency.

A permit to discharge from the Environment Agency will state the conditions that must be met before you can discharge to the stream, watercourse or groundwater from your process.

Call us today if you are experiencing problems with trade or surface water discharges. We can help you comply and potentially save you money with your effluent discharges. 07790147084.