Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
There are strict controls on discharging substances and materials to land, surface waters or groundwater.
Surface waters include rivers, lakes, loughs, lochs, streams, reservoirs and canals. Groundwater is all water located below the water table.
In Northern Ireland, if you discharge anything other than clean, uncontaminated water you must have a:
These consents and authorisations are issued by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).
You must comply with the conditions of your discharge consent or groundwater authorisation.
In Scotland, if you discharge anything to the water environment you may require an authorisation from SEPA - See SEPA: Water - Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR). Some discharges are authorised if you comply with the general binding rules (GBR). In such cases, you do not need to apply for authorisation from SEPA.
You must comply with the conditions of your authorisation.
See the page on environmental consents to discharge to water in our guideline: Preventing water pollution
If you discharge anything to the public foul sewer, see the page in this guideline: Trade effluent - managing liquid wastes
In Northern Ireland, you must obtain a discharge consent from the NIEA if you discharge trade effluent (liquid waste) into land or more than 2 cubic metres per day of treated sewage into land.
In Scotland, you must obtain an authorisation from SEPA for all discharges of trade effluent (liquid waste) and treated sewage into land.
You must ensure there's no risk of contaminated run-off from your premises polluting surface waters or groundwater. For example, your vehicles may leak oil, or rainwater may be contaminated by chimney emissions.
You can be prosecuted for allowing any polluting matter to enter surface waters or groundwater.
NIEA: Regulation of water discharges
NIEA: Groundwater authorisations
SEPA: Applications for authorisations
SEPA: Groundwater discharge information
SEPA: Septic Tanks
You can apply online if the system:
Types of environmental licence
Pollution prevention and control permits and waste management licences
Authorisations and consents for discharges
Trade effluent consents and agreements
Water abstraction and impoundment authorisations
Waste carrier, broker and dealer registration
Groundwater in Northern Ireland, DAERA have produced a leaflet to raise awareness about this untapped resource
EU Exit, EU Exit useful information
View our latest videos & subscribe to our channel.
Free monthly email newsletter with environmental updates for Northern Ireland and Scotland