Environmental News: Environment Agency announces improvements to regulation of water company discharges
The new approach to regulating discharges to water uses an Operator and Pollution Risk Appraisal (OPRA) system and Operating Self Monitoring (OSM) to ensure direct links between the risk of an activity, the environmental performance of an operator and the charges levied under the polluter-pays principle.
The aim is to 'strike a better balance between improving the environment, rewarding good environmental performance and taking tough action against those who fail to meet acceptable standards.'
The Environment Agency regulates 110,000 discharge consents in England and Wales across many sectors, including industrial operators, breweries, fish-farms, mines and quarries; but the changes will first be introduced to water companies which are responsible for 70% of all consented discharges to water.
The changes will mean responsibility for monitoring discharges will transfer to operators (OSM), using formally certified monitoring systems to collect, analyse and report on the quality of discharges. The Environment Agency will audit all operator procedures and undertake formal inspection of all sites to ensure procedures are robust and discharge results are compliant with consents.
Environment Agency Director of Environment Protection Tricia Henton said: “The Environment Agency wants operators to take a greater responsibility for their environmental impact...Water companies have the potential to secure the biggest environmental gains through regulatory change and are best equipped to implement the changes, with many already having monitoring mechanisms in place.”
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