Whenever complex legislation is involved, it often causes a lot more questions than answers. It is expected that in an entangled web of rules some confusion comes on the when and what is required to have a legally compliant wastewater system.

As a standard a combination of rules and regulations need to be adhered to when you have a septic tank/ Sewage treatment plant installed, these are outlined by the 2020 General Binding rules, more information on this can be found here.

To identify if you need an EA permit you must know your daily flow from the wastewater facility, the daily flow from a correctly sized sewage treatment plant can be calculated by using the following link -> Here

In order to discharge to surface water, you must first ensure that you have a package sewage treatment plant installed, under the 2020 General Binding Rules a Septic tank cannot discharge to any kind of surface water.

Under normal installation circumstances you will not need to have an EA permit for your small domestic sewage treatment plant to discharge to a watercourse providing the daily flow from the system is below 5m3 per day.

Under government legislation both Septic tanks and Sewage treatment plants are able to discharge to an appropriately installed and sized drainage field as a form of secondary treatment. For both of these you are able to discharge without a permit providing the daily flow does not exceed 2m3 per day.

For an accurately installed drainage field percolation tests must be carried out prior to the installation taking place.

There are some circumstances where even if the above criteria is met that you may still be required to apply for an Environment agency application. For some small domestic systems, , this is predominantly for systems located within SSSI protection zones. Due to the ecological sensitive nature of the areas (could be flood zone risk, rare habitats/ species within the area etc).

However, if you are ever unsure if you fall into a category of requiring an EA Permit why not give us a call and our specialist team will aim to assist with any queries you may have.