Waste Water Discharge Licensing/Authorisation Headquarters 04 th March 2010 Breen Higgins, Inspector Office of Climate, Licensing & Resource Use Environmental Protection Agency Tel: + 353 53 9160600 b.higgins@epa.ie
Waste Water Discharge Licensing/Authorisation Background Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations, 2007 (S.I. 684 of 2007) To control and regulate discharges from water service authority controlled sewer networks. Currently 870 applications on hand, of which 450 are licence applications 420 are Certificates of Authorisation
Waste Water Discharge Licensing/Authorisation Licences are required for discharges from agglomerations of over 500 population equivalent (p.e.) Discharges < 500 p.e. subject to a certificate of authorisation – generally less complex means of regulation
e.g., WWDL Regs Relevant legislation states that a licence is required S.I. 684 of 2007 Applicant gets application form & guidance from EPA website Applicant fills the form and (with the fee) submits it to the EPA OCLR staff log the application, and check that all the contents are in place Application is assigned to an Inspector Clock starts Inspector assesses the information in the application. If anything is missing, the inspector seeks more information from the applicant. When all info is confirmed as OK the Inspector has 4 months to complete the assessment Inspector checks the application for accuracy, technical detail, likely impact etc. The Inspector discuss the application with experts in Cross-office other EPA Offices such as OEE & OEA expert groups provide e.g., the TWG technical Inspector uses guidance and templates (for Inspector’s Report and input Draft Licence) as previously agreed by the Board of the Agency Inspector passes the Inspector’s Report and the draft Licence for approval to the: Sectoral Expert, Line Manager, Programme Manager, and Admin staff will then pass the documents to the Director and/or the Board for consideration and grant of licence.
Waste Water Discharge Licensing/Authorisation The European Court Judgement was issued in June 2005 indicating that Ireland had failed to correctly transpose the Dangerous Substances Directive. The European Commission have been pressing to have the necessary regulations put in place without delay Further court action is anticipated from the Commission if the Regulations are not made soon. If they are not put in place the likely consequences are that the courts will impose substantial daily fines In addition, the Commission are pressing for the licensing process to commence shortly after the regulations are put in place. They want to see tangible action in 2007.
Application Form Contains a number of discrete Sections: A. Non-Technical Summary B. General C. Infrastructure and Operation D. Discharges to the Aquatic Environment E. Monitoring F. Existing Environment & Impact of Discharge(s) G. Programme of Improvements H. Declaration I. Joint Declaration
Application Form Information supplied on an agglomeration basis. Application Form seeks specific information on discharges. Monitoring Information obtained electronically via the following link: http://78.137.160.73/epa_wwd_licensing/ Information feeds into internal models/tools, e.g., Assimilative Capacity Model, GIS, etc.
Outcomes 1. Request for Further Information under Regulation 18 and/or Regulation 20 of S.I. No 684 of 2007 2. Draft Inspector’s Report/Recommended Licence for review and submission to the Board. 3. Notifications to internal and external stakeholders Statutory consultees Submitters OEA/OEE - key monitoring and site map information
Outcomes Typical Licence contains: A number (7) Conditions and a series of Schedules (4) Outline the manner in which an agglomeration is regulated Conditions take form of a series of sub-conditions Schedules take form of series of tables specifying emission limit values and dates for completion of works, etc. For Example:- http://www.epa.ie/licences/lic_eDMS/090151b2802cdf0a.pdf
Inspectors Report Report prepared by the assigned Inspector outlining the controls to be placed on the agglomeration. Report template containing a number of standard headings: Agglomeration Discharges to Waters Receiving Waters and Impact Ambient Monitoring Combined Approach Compliance with EU Directives Submissions Charges
Process Recommended Licence and Inspectors Report undergo a number of internal quality checks, reviewed by:- Line manager Sectoral Expert Programme Manager Prior to preparation of documents by administration for the consideration of the Board Typical Inspector’s Report may be viewed here: http://www.epa.ie/terminalfour/wwda/index.jsp
Clerical and Technical Amendments The Agency may Amend a licence/certificate or revised licences/certificates for the purpose of: correcting any clerical error facilitating the doing of anything pursuant to a condition, where the doing of that thing may reasonably be regarded as having being contemplated by the licence or condition, but which was not expressly provided for facilitating the operation of the licence or certificate where the making of the amendment does not result in the relevant environmental requirements ceasing to be satisfied Any change must be reflected in original licence for purpose of compliance checking.
Review of Licence Agency must review a licence every six years from the date of grant of the licence or revised licence or upon application by the holder of the licence The Agency may review a licence if certain grounds arise e.g. material change or where licensee is not complying with conditions (see Article 14(6) of regs for list of grounds) with the consent of the licensee 3 years from date of grant of licence or revised licence
eDMS/Web Publication Once a Final Licence issues it is published to the web via eDMS (electronic Document Management System) eDMS contains all correspondence (internal and external) in relation to an application in pdf format Web page searchable under key headings, e.g., Water Service Authority, Agglomeration, Register Number Fulfils much of Agency requirement on making information available to public
Handover to OEE/OEA Final stage involves the handover of key documents to OEE/OEA Final Licence, Inspector’s Report and Licensing files (if requested) – OEE Licensee details, location map, monitoring schedules from licence, and monitoring point maps - OEA
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