What is trade effluent?
Trade effluent is any effluent that is produced from a process or activity undertaken at premises that are used to carry out a trade or industry.
What is the link between water utilities and trade effluent?
At Anglian Water the Catchment Quality Team protects assets and Water Recycling Centre compliance by regulating and monitoring discharges into the sewerage catchment. This team regulates trade effluent customers, issues consent documents and investigats pollutions.
The purpose of trade effluent control is to ensure that it does not adversely affect this recycling process, including the sewers through which the trade effluent passes. Another key objective is that public health is protected, including those people working in our sewers.
What are some of the different types of sewer system?
There can be foul sewers, surface water sewers and ‘combined’ systems, handling both foul and surface water.
Trade effluent doesn't include domestic sewage such as used water from toilets or hand washing which might take place on the site.
Trade effluent discharges range in size from just a few litres to hundreds of thousands of litres entering our sewers every day. As well as the volume, the composition of trade effluent discharges can vary considerably.
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Some trade effluent facts
- Anglian Water treats around 63 million litres of trade effluent every day at over 1100 water recycling centres
- Anglian Water take over 10,000 trade effluent samples each year equating to over 60,000 individual chemical tests
- There are more than 3900 consented discharges of trade effluent in the Anglian Water region including:
- Over 200 swimming pools and leisure centres
- Over 160 engineering companies
- More than 350 discharges from the production of food
- 50 chemical manufacturers
- 250 launderettes and laundries
- Around 1550 vehicle washes
Legislation
Trade effluent legislation mostly falls under the Water Industry Act 1991, with companies being responsible for their discharges and water utilities responsible for monitoring them.
The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive requires all member states to implement a trade effluent control regime, to preauthorise such discharges and to review those authorisations on a regular basis.
There are occasions where the Environment Agency is also involved. This normally applies to larger operations including chemical manufacture, landfill sites and larger electroplaters.
Sampling
A consent is a legal document issued by water comanies such as Anglian Water in their role as a regulator and under powers set out in the Water Industry Act 1991.
The consent will contain a number of conditions including those that control the quality and quantity of the discharge, many with numeric limits for parameters:
- Volume and flow
- pH
- Temperature- for staff safety and odours
- Chemical oxygen demand- the capacity of an effluent to consume oxygen during the decomposition of organic matter and the oxidation of inorganic chemicals, for the WRC biology
- Suspended solids- for reduced blockages and sedimentation
- Sulphate- prevent the corrosion of concrete sewers and the production of odours.
- FOG (facts, oils and grease)
The frequency that Anglian Water take compliance monitoring samples are based on an assessment of a company’s effluent and the sewerage system being discharged into. More significant discharges may be sampled on a weekly basis. In some cases they may also ask the company to monitor the effluent and provide us with sample results.
Competition for Non-Household Customers
Since April 2017 non-household customers have been able to choose the retailer who carries out their billing and customer services functions.
Licensed retailers now buy wholesale water services – the physical supply of water and the removal of wastewater – from the regional water companies, who continue to supply your water, treat your wastewater and maintain the water and wastewater pipe networks.
For example if a company is proposing to discharge trade effluent they need to contact their retailer for help to complete an application form called a Trade Effluent Notice.
