Who needs a WWD Licence / Certificate?

All discharges to the aquatic environment from sewerage systems owned, managed and operated by Water Service Authorities require a waste water discharge licence or certificate of authorisation from the EPA. The Authorities are required to apply to the Agency for a licence or certificate of authorisation by set dates depending on the population equivalent of the area served by the sewer network.

The dates by which licence applications were to be made to the Agency are set out in SCHEDULE 2 of the Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 684 of 2007).  The schedule of dates are as follows:

Population Equivalent of AgglomerationPrescribed Date
Discharges from agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 10,000 14 December 2007
Discharges from agglomerations with a population equivalent of 2,001 to 10,000 22 September 2008
Discharges from agglomerations with a population equivalent of 1,001 to 2,000 28 February 2009
Discharges from agglomerations with a population equivalent of 500 to 1,000 22 June 2009

 

It should be noted that discharges from agglomerations not included in the above table (i.e. with a population equivalent of less than 500) must apply to the Agency for a certificate of authorisation by 22nd December 2009.