Statutory guidance

SR2010 No 3: discharge to surface water

Standard rules for discharges to surface water.

Documents

SR2010 No 3: discharge to surface water

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Generic risk assessment for SR2010 No 3

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Details

This introductory note does not form part of these standard rules.

These rules allow you to discharge domestic sewage with a maximum daily volume between 5 and 20 cubic metres per day to inland freshwaters, coastal waters or relevant territorial waters (as defined in Section 104 of the Water Resources Act 1991).

The sewage must be domestic sewage containing no trade effluent (as defined in Section 221 of the Water Resources Act 1991). It must be treated by a secondary treatment plant.

The plant must be designed and constructed according to BS 12566 and sized in accordance with ‘Flows and Loads 3’. It must be managed, operated and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.

The discharge must only be made to a watercourse that normally contains water throughout the year.

The discharge must not be made into ponds, lakes or freshwater within 1 km upstream from a:

  • bathing water
  • shellfish water
  • European Site
  • Ramsar Site
  • Site of Special Scientific Interest
  • Local Nature Reserve
  • body of water containing a protected species

The discharge must not be made within 100 metres of a local wildlife site

For a site in tidal water ‘1 km upstream’ means within 1 km by the shortest distance over water in any direction from the nearest boundary of any of these sites. This restriction only applies to conservation sites that are water-based and linked to the receiving water downstream of the discharge point.

Updates to this page

Published 7 June 2013
Last updated 10 April 2019 + show all updates
  1. Changes to SR2010 No.3 to bring wording in line with conditions that have been subject to appeal decisions under the Environmental Permitting Regulations, and update references to the Flows and Loads document.

  2. We have updated the interpretation section 4.4 of the standard rule with a revised definition for the term ‘European Site’.

  3. First published.

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