Commercial and Industrial Water Discharge Consent
Welcome to the support page for the Commercial and Industrial Water Discharge Consent online form.
We strongly recommend that you read all of the supporting information below before proceeding to fill in the online form
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| Licence summary | Under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, the consent of the Department of Environment is required to discharge any trade or sewage effluent (including site drainage liable to contamination) from commercial, industrial or domestic premises into waterways or water contained in any underground strata. Types of discharge consents:
Discharge consents include conditions stipulating the quality and quantity of effluent that can be discharged. The conditions will be formulated to ensure that the discharge can be sustained by the receiving waterway without damaging the aquatic environment or breaching national or European Commission (EC) standards. The Industrial Consents Section of NIEA Water Management Unit is responsible for the issue of discharge consents, and assessing compliance against the conditions contained within them, taking appropriate enforcement action as required. Registers of discharge consents are held by NIEA. These are open to public inspection. The results of compliance monitoring are also in the public domain. |
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| Eligibility Criteria | Each application is assessed on its own merit, and determined providing all relevant information is supplied. |
| Regulation Summary | Under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, the consent of the Department of Environment is required to discharge any trade or sewage effluent (including site drainage liable to contamination) from commercial, industrial or domestic premises into waterways or water contained in any underground strata. It is an offence under the terms of the Water Order to discharge such effluent without consent, and also to contravene any condition of a discharge consent. The penalty for either of these offences on summary conviction is imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months, or a fine not exceeding £20,000, or both. |
| Application Evaluation Process | The stages of the consent setting process are as follows:
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| Will Tacit Consent Apply | Tacit consent is where a licence is granted by default if the Licensing Authority has not processed your application within the published processing times. However, due to environmental / public health interests tacit consent does not apply to water discharge consent. NIEA must process your application before it can be granted. If you have not heard from the Agency within a reasonable period, please contact us. You can do this online or use the contact details below. |
| Target Completion Period | Your application will be acknowledged within three working days of receipt. Depending on the complexity of your application it will be processed within four months unless a time extension is agreed with you. If your application is refused you will be told how to appeal. |
| Fees | You should find out the applicable charge by visiting the following page before filling out the online form: http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/business_and_industry-2/charges.htm |
| Apply online | Go to the nibusinessinfo website to apply. |
| Forms to download, print, and post | |
| Contact Details | Northern Ireland Environment Agency Telephone: 028 9262 3034 |
| Application and licence Redress | Should the application be refused, you can appeal the decision within 28 days of receipt of notification of the refusal decision, by contacting the Water Appeals Commission: 3rd Floor, Park House Telephone 028 9024 4710 |
| Consumer Complaint | Follow NIEA customer complaints procedure: http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/11-06.02_complaints_procedure_web.pdf (.PDF 474Kb) |
| Public Registers or Databases | The Department maintains a statutory register, which is available for public inspection, including details of: (a) applications for consent |
| Local Support | If assistance is needed with the application, the Industrial Consent section should be contacted using the details provided above. |
| Further Information |
