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Guidance: Pollution prevention for businesses

Environment Agency

August 15
08:48 2022

You must not let your business or organisation cause or allow pollution. Pollution is when any substance that harms or could harm people or the environment gets into the air, water or ground.

If you pollute, you could get an unlimited fine, go to prison for up to 5 years, or both. You may also have to pay for the whole cost of the clean-up. There could be further costs such as paying compensation to third parties, higher insurance premiums or loss of contracts.

Call the Environment Agency pollution incident hotline immediately if polluting materials have entered or could enter a watercourse or soak into the ground, for example from a ruptured tank, leaking pipe or uncontained spill.

Polluting substances

Its not just obviously hazardous substances such as pesticides or strong acids that can harm people or the environment. Any substance thats not found naturally in an environment could cause pollution, for example detergents, concrete slurry or paper sludge. Even natural substances such as milk can pollute.

Some substances, such as pesticides, are immediately toxic to creatures. Others can cause harm by reducing the amount of oxygen in rivers and streams. Some have longer-term impacts by interfering with the ability of creatures to reproduce.

You can reduce the risk of pollution by following this guidance and other specific guidance for:

You may need an environmental permit or other authorisations if youre discharging substances to surface water or groundwater, working with waste or operating an installation, for example a metal finishers or a food production site. In some cases this may be even if you are discharging to a foul sewer.

Activities that produce contaminated water

If your business produces contaminated water or other polluting liquids (trade effluent) you must make sure it does not cause pollution.

Such activities may include:

  • vehicle washing, wheelie bin washing or yard cleaning
  • manufacturing processes
  • water cooling
  • cleaning of food production areas or ovens

Assess if its possible to redesign your process to avoid or minimise creating contaminated water, for instance by using dry systems. If unavoidable, you should reuse or dispose of contaminated water by:

  • collecting it in a sealed system for reuse, treatment on site or removal by a registered waste carrier
  • putting it down the foul water (or combined) drain if youve got permission from your water company - contact them to get consent

Correct use of drains

Surface water drains discharge directly to the environment. You must make sure contaminated water from your premises and business activities goes into the foul drain or is recycled or removed by a registered waste carrier.

Make a drain plan

Drainage systems can very quickly transport pollutants off site and into the environment. Its important to make a plan of your drains to help you use them correctly, carry out maintenance and deal more effectively with pollution if theres a spill, leak or other incident. The plan should show:

  • where the drains are
  • the types of drains - surface water, foul water, or combined
  • direction of flow
  • where drains leave your property
  • where they discharge into, for example, a watercourse, clean-water soakaway or sewage treatment works

Everyone who works at the site should be able to easily find and understand the plan.

You may need to get a full drainage survey if you do not know what types of drains your business has.

If you make changes to your site, check your drain plan to make sure you do not connect to the wrong drains. Update your plan with the changes.

If you have an environmental permit, your drain plan will be part of your environmental management system.

Use the right drain

Make sure that:

  • contaminated water drains into the foul water drain connected to a foul sewer - ask your water company for permission
  • only clean water drains into the surface water drain or soakaway (a special pit that allows clean, non-polluting water to drain into the ground)

If you have a combined drainage system it can handle both types of water, but youll still need permission from your water company to use it for contaminated water.

Never put fats, oil, grease or solid items down drains. They may block, back-up and cause pollution.

If you run a restaurant or other business that creates contaminated washwaters with waste oil or grease that could be discharged to sewers or drains, you should install fat and sediment traps to prevent blockages. You must get permission from the water company or private sewer owner to discharge this waste.

Check your drains

Check your drains regularly for:

  • blockages or leaks - clear or repair them to prevent pollution
  • misconnections, where your drains have been connected to the wrong part of the sewer network you must fix any misconnections or you could be fined

You must also follow the rules on package treatment plants and septic tanks if you have one.

Mark your manhole covers

Paint your manhole covers according to the standard code:

  • blue for surface water
  • red for foul water
  • red C for a combined system where all water goes to a treatment plant

Show the direction of flow with a painted arrow on the manhole cover. Mark a corresponding arrow on the ground so that if a manhole cover is removed it can be replaced with the arrow pointing in the right direction.

Install an oil separator

You may need to install an oil separator (interceptor) or other device to remove oil from water that drains off hard surfaces. Typically a separator is needed for any site with a risk of oil contamination, such as:

  • car parks larger than 800m2 or for 50 or more parking spaces
  • smaller car parks that discharge to a sensitive environment, such as a marsh that has been designated as a nature reserve
  • vehicle maintenance areas
  • roads
  • refuelling facilities

The type and class of separator you need will depend on the activity and where the discharge is directed to.

Oil separators do not work if they are incorrectly sized, not maintained or theres detergent in the water, for example, from car washing. Use an alternative method such as a sealed treatment system, sustainable drainage system or waste removal service if necessary.

All oil separators have to be maintained to work properly.

Maintain an oil separator

You should check the separator on a regular basis to assess:

  • how much oil and silt has built up
  • that all the parts are working

You can check the manufacturers instructions for how to do this and what to look for.

You should empty and service the separator if:

  • a significant amount of oil or silt has built up
  • there is an oil spill
  • any separator alarms activate

You should use a waste removal company who has experience in cleaning and maintaining separators. The waste removal company must have a waste carriers licence.

Any trapped oil or sediment that the waste company removes from the separator is hazardous waste and so it must be:

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