Regulating Sewage Discharges
The reform of the water industry in Northern Ireland involved the transfer of responsibility for delivery of water and sewerage services from Water Service, to a government owned company - Northern Ireland Water Limited (NIW).
Since 1 April 2007, NIW requires consent under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 in respect of discharges from Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW’s), Water Treatment Works (WTW’s) and sewerage systems.
Water Order (WO) discharge consents have been issued for approximately 1100 waste water treatment works, 30 water treatment works and 300 sewer systems.
Each Water Order discharge consent contains conditions relating to the quality and quantity of the discharge to the water environment. These are formulated by taking into account a number of factors, including the requirements of relevant European Directives, such as the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD).
Discharges from Water Service installations prior to 1 April 2007 were controlled through 'Registered Discharge Standards', with the compliance of these works reported annually. Water Service, as a Government body, historically benefited from 'crown immunity', and as such enforcement action was limited to the issue of 'advisory letters'. These set out the nature of the non-compliance and requested an explanation from Water Service as to the reason for non-compliance, as well as an action plan to improve compliance. This correspondence is kept on a public register.
As a result of Water Reform, NIW is now under a normal environmental regulatory regime. NIW will be subject to appropriate enforcement action for non-compliance with consent conditions and any pollution incidents caused by a failure to properly maintain and operate its' infrastructure.
The Water Service Discharges Reports (2001 - 2006) summarise the assessment of compliance with discharge standards for waste water treatment works and water treatment works operated by Water Service. The reports also provide detail on compliance with both Northern Ireland Enviornment Agency (NIEA) Registered Standards and the Urban Waste Water Treatment (UWWT) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995. An overview of investment plans is also included.
The compliance assessment for NIW discharges in 2007 are detailed as follows:
NIW discharge compliance 2007
The primary function of the Water Utility Regulation Group (WURG) is to regulate discharges made by the Water Utility Sector. This sector includes NIW, Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and 'private' emergency overflows connecting to Water Utility Sector infrastructure. Discharges may arise from the following:
- Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTWs) - commonly known as sewage treatment works. These are the primary source of Water Utility Sector discharges
- Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) - intermittent discharges from sewers which carry both foul sewage and rainfall run-off water
- Emergency Overflows (EOs) from sewage pumping stations - sewage may be discharged under emergency conditions from a sewage pumping station. Some pumping stations may also have a CSO function
- Water Treatment Works (WTWs) - waste waters may arise as by-products of the drinking water purification processes.
Consents are also set for discharges under the Water and Sewerage Services (NI) Order 2006 Section 226/227 to enable NIW or their contractors to discharge water from pipes, wells, reservoirs and boreholes while carrying out construction, maintenance or repair.
The Water Utility Regulation Group maintains public registers of both WWTWs and WTWs. The registers provide details of the works, the discharge conditions that the effluents are required to meet and the results of compliance monitoring. The WWTW & WTW Public Registers can be viewed here.
Sewer Systems
Both CSOs and EOs are constituent parts of sewerage systems. Along with NIW, the Water Utility Regulation Group is involved in the detailed assessment of proposed upgrades to the sewerage systems of towns and cities throughout Northern Ireland. This is a long-term programme which addresses the impacts of CSOs from complete sewerage systems and is guided by what is known as Urban Pollution Management methodology. Discharge standards for CSOs include minimum flows that the sewer must be capable of passing forward before spilling. For EOs, discharge standards largely relate to measures to be taken to ensure that there is little or no spillage following a breakdown.
Water Quality and Planning
Scientific and technical advice is provided to Planning Service on planning consultation issues in relation to the sewerage infrastructure to which the development would connect. In 2001 Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) (On 1 July 2008 EHS became Northern Ireland Environment Agency(NIEA)) highlighted a situation where continued development in areas with deficiencies in the provision of Waste Water Treatment had the potential to adversely affect water quality. This issue was the subject of a Ministerial Statement to the Assembly on 7 October 2002 on water quality and planning: Ministers' Statement Since then EHS (On 1 July 2008 EHS became Northern Ireland Environment Agency(NIEA)) monitored the progress Water Service made in terms of new works and infrastructure improvements. The result is that from 10 April 2006 EHS had reduced the number of areas where continued development has the potential to adversely affect water quality from 57 to 37 Water Quality and Planning table April 2006(.PDF 31.5Kb). The updated situation is reflected in NIEA responses to planning consultations.
Sewage Sludge
Where sewage sludge is applied to agricultural land, NIW have to meet the requirements of the Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations (N.I.) 1990 and comply with the Code of Practice for Agricultural Use of Sewage Sludge. The Water Utility Regulation group monitors information held by NIW. In practice, however, little sewage sludge is presently being spread on agricultural land.
Publications
The group draws up Departmental policy and other regulatory documents on issues relevant to Water Utility Regulation. Documents currently available through the publications section of this website:
Water Service Discharges Report 2006(.PDF 880Kb)
Water Service Discharges Report 2005(.PDF 1.4Mb)
Water Service Discharge Report 2004(.PDF 1.27Mb)
Water Service Discharge Report 2002 - 2003(.PDF 1.18Mb)
Regulation of Water Service Discharges - Report for the Year 2001(.PDF 688Kb)
