Sewage Treatment Plant and Registration in Wales

If you have a sewage treatment plant it is important to be aware of the regulations surrounding your responsibilities as the owner of one, and to keep up to date on the legalities – a well-founded complaint about your system could potentially result in a fine if you are found to not have complied with the necessary legislation.

Discharges from sewage treatment systems that started 6^th April 2010 are considered to be existing discharges, and must meet the design standards that were in place at the time of installation. Discharges from sewage treatment systems that started after 6^th April 2010 are considered to be new discharges and must meet specific British Standards.

The good news is that if your system meets certain criteria then it will be granted what is called an “Exemption”, which will save you going through the more strenuous process of a bespoke application to fulfil the necessary legal obligations. Applying for an exemption takes no more than 10 minutes, and you will have a response from NRW within 15 Business days. The conditions for meeting the exemption criteria are as follows:

• Your sewage treatment plant discharges 5m3 per day or less into surface water. This is roughly equivalent to the sewage generated by 33 occupants in a single property.
• Your sewage treatment plant discharges 2m3 per day or less to ground. This is roughly equivalent to the sewage generated from 13 occupants in a single property.
• Your sewage system is not near a protected or designated area for the environment or a groundwater supply, for example, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or a Source Protection Zone for drinking water (an SPZ). NRW will check this for you once they have received your application.

These criteria will mean that most domestic applications for the registration of a sewage treatment plant are exempt, meaning that the registration process will be very straightforward. If your application does not fit into this criteria, then you will have to undertake a more in depth Bespoke permit application. This is a tailor made application to NRW, where they must take into account many factors regarding your system, including the area it will be in, the siting, local water and soil information and the establishment of maintenance plans with professional drainage contractors such as ourselves.

If all this seems very daunting to you. Do not worry. We specialise in dealing with the supply, installation, registration and maintenance of treatment plants. This means that if you choose to install a tank with us, we will handle the whole process, from dealing with NRW, to putting together a maintenance plan, to installing it on site and ensuring everything is put in place to the highest standard possible, leaving you with peace of mind. Call us today on 01834 844804 or email us at Defloltd@gmail.com today for a quote, or to enquire.