What Businesses Should Know About Trade Effluent

As a business owner, you should have a basic knowledge of effluent water and how it is produced. Trade effluent requirements can often be confusing, but if you don’t meet industry standards, you could be in for some trouble. 

Protect yourself and your business operations by increasing your local knowledge about wastewater, sewage treatment, and the requirements surrounding trade effluent. In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know on the topic. 

What Produces Effluent? 

The Water Industry Act of 1991 defines trade effluent as any liquid waste produced by businesses, factories, and other commercial operations, that is discharged into public sewers. It does not apply to domestic sewage. 

Some of the most common activities that produce effluent include: 

• Chemical manufacturing 

• Car washes 

• Engineering processes 

• Food production processes that result in food waste 

Basically, trade effluent is any wastewater contaminated with chemicals, detergents, heavy metal rinses, suspended solids, oils, fats, sludge, and other pollutants and harmful substances. 

Effluent should not be confused with regular sewage, which includes wastewater from kitchens, bathrooms, and toilets. This is why most restaurants and hotels don’t require any form of trade effluent consent. 

How Water Providers Can Help 

When you are dealing with the right water providers, your trade effluent needs should be taken care of swiftly and responsibly. 

Some of the benefits you can look forward to include: 

• Expert technology to simplify the trade effluent process. 

• Support to ensure you have the correct trade effluent consents in place. 

• Reliable billing with competitive pricing. 

• Insightful data to help you meet environmental targets. 

Your water provider helps ensure you meet industry standards and are 100% compliant with local laws and regulations. They can also help you reduce your environmental impact by ensuring your wastewater reaches the right sewage treatment plant and finding ways for you to surface water, sewage, and effluent. 

Recent Legislation Updates 

Did you know that it is illegal to discharge trade effluent in the UK without consent? Unauthorised trade effluent discharge can lead to fines and even prosecution, as it is a criminal offence. To avoid legal action, you should be aware of consent requirements and restrictions, including the volume and flow rate, pH levels, temperature, sulphates, and more. 

You can obtain consent from your local ‘sewerage undertaker’ or local water company, who ensures your effluent makes its way to the right municipal sewage treatment plants. Even if you produce low levels of contamination, you are not exempt from requiring consent. 

Are There Alternatives? 

If your business produces trade effluent, you will need to get consent and pay the associated effluent charges. While there aren’t many alternatives available, you could always install an onsite trade effluent treatment plant to reduce the strength of your effluent and thus reduce your charges. 

You could also install a monitoring system that monitors and measures any effluent fluctuations. 

You can also attempt to reduce your effluent by making changes to the chemicals you use in your production process. Not only does this reduce your effluent bills, but it minimises your environmental impact. 

Final Thoughts 

If you own industrial or commercial premises and produce trade effluent, it is your responsibility to ensure you comply with local legislation. It is well worth your time to find out which wastewater treatment plant your effluent is ending up in and the sewage treatment processes involved. 

If you feel like your trade effluent needs are not being met, you should consider switching water providers. When you have the right water provider, your domestic sewage processes should be straightforward and you should receive expert advice, reliable billing, and more.