In England and Wales, the Environment Agency (EA) grants discharge consents, which allow the discharge of polluting, or solid matter, and effluents to 'controlled waters.' Controlled waters include virtually all freshwaters, groundwaters, tidal and coastal waters to a distance of three nautical miles out to sea. The EA has granted approximately 80,000 discharge consents to date.
Discharge consents can be divided into two broad categories:
1. Numeric consents - Discharges which have the greatest potential to affect the quality of the receiving water have numeric concentration limits attached to their consents. These limits may apply to an individual substance or group of substances contained in the discharge. There are approximately 30,000 numeric consents in force, with around 10,000 being routinely monitored by the EA.
2. Descriptive consents - Discharges that are small, with a low potential to affect the environment, are difficult to control by means of specific numeric values. In these cases, descriptive consents are applied. They typically define the nature of the effluent treatment plant to be used, plus a requirement that the plant be correctly operated and adequately maintained. There are currently some 50,000 discharges successfully controlled by descriptive consents.
In Scotland the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has granted around 30,000 discharge consents and performs a similar role to the EA in monitoring selected consents.
how to get a discharge consent
All applications for new discharge consents must be referred to and approved by the relevant Agency, which assesses and issues consents as part of their pollution prevention and control responsibilities. The Agency sites contain information on the application process, which takes a number of months and involves extensive public consultation. The Agencies levy both application and annual fees which are dependent, amongst other things, on the volume and contents of the discharge.
how can waterexchange help?
The trading and exchange of discharge consents could provide an alternative to a new application. waterexchange is investigating, with the relevant regulatory bodies, the potential mechanisms which might be available to allow existing and potential holders of consents to trade and exchange those consents already in existence. waterexchange believes that the creation of a marketplace, with the appropriate mechanisms in place, will facilitate this trade and allow more efficient use of the consents that have already been granted.
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