Operator Self-monitoring Can Lower Costs
Wastewater represents a cost to business. In the following article, HACH LANGE's Emma Brown explains how correct monitoring
procedures can help reduce these costs and even boost profit.
The Environment Agency of England and Wales (EA) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) are responsible for environmental protection and improvement. Much of the environmental legislation that these organisations enforce is derived from European Directives such as the Urban Waste Water
Treatment Directive and the Water Framework Directive.
Process operators are regulated through permits, authorisations and consents which specify compliance requirements to protect the environment and monitoring is required to ensure compliance with consents.
When is a trade effluent consent required?
•Waste from toilet flushing, hand wash basins, showers and canteens does not require a consent
•Minimal discharges (a few litres per day) may not need a formal consent as long as they are non-hazardous
•Discharges above 1m3 Emma Brown per day require full consent
•Short-term discharges (e.g. one week) need to gain prior authorisation from the water company
Polluter pays
There are a number of ways in which discharges incur costs. For example, if the discharge is treated at a water company treatment works, the water company will impose a fee.
Water companies calculate wastewater charges (in pence per m3 )
using the Mogden formula which combines operational costs that are specific to the water company with various measures of the wastewater 'strength'. These include Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and suspended solids.
If a process operator is responsible for a discharge to surface water
(river, stream, estuary or the sea), or to groundwater (including via an infiltration system) the EA will apply a charge based on the category of waste (eg. higher rates for metals or pesticides), the volume of the discharge and the type of receiving water. If the operator fails to comply with the conditions of the discharge consent, the company may be fined in the courts and clean-up costs may apply. Furthermore, such activity can seriously affect the public perception of a company, significantly damaging the brand.
Operator Self Monitoring (OSM)
The EA has moved to a more risk-based approach to monitoring, which has resulted in a move to OSM. Under OSM, water companies and other businesses will monitor their own discharges and report the results to the EA. These results will determine how well the operator complies with its consent conditions. The frequency of monitoring will be dictated by the risk posed by the discharge and the operator's performance. The EA will
Portable LDO™ meter Portable electrochemistry meter/probes
check that operators comply with the monitoring requirements through site inspections and audits, and the Agency will continue to monitor the quality of receiving waters and assess the impact of discharge quality upon them.
Online monitor To test, or not to test?
Clearly, OSM presents responsible operators with an opportunity to reduce costs. However, it is also important to note that wastewater charges are often based on an infrequent spot check which may not accurately represent the true value. So, operators have a choice; they can either hope that the spot checks are accurate, or they can conduct their own monitoring to make sure that it is.
Test strips, comparators and spectrophotometer reagents
Self-monitoring can deliver much more than an accurate charge for wastewater; it can create a better understanding of a process and thereby improve efficiency and reduce the risk of discharge consent failure.
November/December 2010
IET
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