Discharge Permit Review Project

Tender description

The aim of this project is to review all existing environmental permits for discharge to ground across the Kent, South London, and East Sussex area, with a view to assessing compliance and risk to the groundwater environment, as well as establishing priorities for any further work. In England the Environment Agency (EA) is responsible for protecting and enhancing the quality of controlled waters, including groundwater. The EA is also responsible for issuing and regulating certain environmental activities via the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) 2016, including groundwater activities. Through EPR 2016, discharges of treated sewage effluent to ground may be permitted provided they do not pose an unacceptable risk to the groundwater environment. Under certain circumstances, discharges to ground may be exempt from requiring an Environmental Permit provided they meet the General Binding Rules (GBRs) for small scale sewage discharges.