Septic Tank Registration

Septic tanks can pollute groundwater as well as surface water in rivers, streams and lakes. Drinking water in the UK is being increasingly taken from groundwater via boreholes and these must be protected from faecal bacterial pollution. Such pollution can make supplies unusable for drinking and cause damage to the environment, with economic and health consequences.

Discharges from septic tanks in rural locations are no longer exempt from groundwater protection legislation. To reflect this, the EPP2 regulations introduced in 2010 now require existing septic tanks to be registered or to have an environmental permit by the end of 2012.

In July 2011 the Minister, Richard Benyon MP, requested the Environment Agency to review this approach “to check whether it is the most appropriate and whether there might be opportunities for further simplification”. Following the announcement the Environment Agency temporarily stopped actively seeking owners of many septic tanks and put the compulsory registration on hold while a new 'last date' for registration is determined and a quicker registration process is devised, although it still permits owners to register now should they so wish. Our advice to customers is to register NOW as it is not known what restrictions the future review will contain.

The result of this review consultation will be announced by Defra (who are in charge)in coming weeks and we will keep you updated. Wales has already decided a new last date for registration of existing septic tanks. It is June 31st 2012.

How do septic tanks pose a pollution risk?

What new legislation applies to septic tanks?

Current situation for septic tank owners

Groundwater Source Protection Zone 1—automatic requirement for a septic tank permit

 How do septic tanks pose a pollution risk?

Septic tanks can be a possible, though rudimentary, method for handling very small amounts of sewage. However, if they are located in sensitive areas or are poorly built or operated they can cause pollution to groundwater water supplies, streams and the environment. This pollution can have serious environmental and economic implications:

Septic tanks can impact public and private space water supplies, other groundwater abstractions, and surface water in rivers, streams and lakes. Such pollution can make water unusable for drinking water and toxic to aquatic life. Once contaminated, groundwater is very difficult and expensive to make good, and for this reason there are UK and EC laws to protect it.

Persons involved with non-mains sewerage systems must comply with relevant water protection legislation. Failure to do so could result in long-term contamination of valuable groundwater and as a result may result in serious penalties, costs and liabilities.

Even if one septic tank by itself does not pose a risk to groundwater, many in one area can create a “significant” impact. Click here for information on the use of septic tanks to avoid pollution.

 What new legislation applies to septic tanks?

The European Groundwater Directive 80/68/EEC introduced Europe-wide protections for groundwater. Septic tanks used by ‘isolated dwellings’ were largely exempt from controls unless located in sensitive locations. In 2006 the revised Groundwater Directive

2006/118/EC removed  this exemption—although it still permitted authorities to exempt releases to groundwater “of a quantity and concentration so small as to obviate any present or future danger of deterioration in the quality of the receiving groundwater”.

In 2009 the then Minister said that, to transpose the 2006 Directive, septic tanks would enter the environmental permitting system:

Under the 2006 directive… discharges from septic tanks are no longer exempt and so will now be subject to permitting under [Groundwater (England and Wales) Regulations

2009]. The controls relating [to] discharges from septic tanks are expected to enter the environmental permitting regulations in 2010. In relation to discharges from septic tanks, the current exemption will be carried over in relation to discharges that amount to less than two cubic metres per day, but from 1 January 2012 it will be necessary to register with the environmental agencies such discharges, subject to basic rules of operation and maintenance.

Septic tank regulation was introduced in the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010. The system introduced free one-off registration of “most” septic tanks, although some operators would be required to obtain an environmental permit. A charge can be made to get a permit. It was thought that this would be the “simplest…and least burdensome” form of regulation.

In order to be eligible for free registration certain criteria would have to be met. These criteria included that the septic tank was only used for domestic waste, that releases to the ground were 2 cubic metres or less per day (roughly equivalent to a 9 person household), and that it was outside of a  groundwater Source Protection Zone 1 (see below). For full information please consult the guidance.

Many septic tanks must be registered or permitted by 1 January 2012.

 Current septic tank registration situation

In July 2011 the Minister, Richard Benyon MP, requested the Agency to review this approach “to check whether [it was] the most appropriate and whether there might be opportunities for further simplification”. Following the announcement the Environment Agency stopped actively seeking owners of many septic tanks, although it still permitted owners to register should they so wish. We recommend that everyone registers their septic tank NOW, before the end of the review as it is not known how tight the new rules will be.

Richard Benyon MP, the Minister, answered some PQs on the registration of septic tanks, including on the penalties that may apply:

Mr Brine: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the penalty is for failure to register with the Environment Agency the discharge of sewage effluent from a septic tank under the Environmental Permitting Programme Second Phase regulations.

Richard Benyon: Owners of septic tanks that discharge to ground do not legally need to be registered until 1 January 2012. There will therefore be no penalties before this date. After this date, the owner would be committing an offence under the Environmental Permitting Regulations if they do not have a registration or a permit. The Environment Agency will advise owners who do not have a registration or permit that they are committing an offence, and that they must apply for a registration at their earliest convenience. Further action will be considered on a case by case basis.

DEFRA is currently working closely with the Environment Agency to consider whether the current approach or an alternative one is the most appropriate. They are also determining a new 'last date' for the compulsory septic tank registration. 

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency is responsible for implementing and administering Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010. Guidance for householders on the requirements of these regulations for sewage discharges from septic tanks can be found online at:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/water/default.aspx

DEFRA is currently working closely with the Environment Agency to check whether the approach is the most appropriate and whether there might be opportunities for further simplification.8

 Groundwater Source Protection Zone 1—automatic requirement for a permit

Source Protection Zones have been mapped around groundwater sources, such as wells and boreholes used for public drinking water supply. These zones show the risk of contamination from any activities that might cause pollution in the area. The closer the activity, the greater the risk. The maps show three main zones (inner, outer and total catchment) and a fourth zone of special interest, which we occasionally apply, to a groundwater source.

Source Protection Zone 1 (SPZ1) is the most vulnerable to groundwater pollution, and it is defined “as the 50 day travel time from any point below the water table to the source. This zone has a  minimum radius of 50 metres”.

If you want to find out if your property is in a Groundwater Source Protection Zone, please ring us and we will determine it free of charge.

If an existing septic tank is in a SPZ1 it cannot be registered. A permit has to be obtained from the Environment Agency and they will charge to process a permit application. The current charge is over £800.

It is very possible that the Environment Agency will not issue a permit to an existing septic tank in a SPZ1 if it is in danger of causing pollution and an alternative sewage disposal method will have to be installed. However the Agency said that it will “treat permit applications for existing discharges sympathetically where there is sufficient evidence that the discharge has not or will not cause problems. If the discharge and the abstraction have co-existed for a number of years with no apparent problem we will normally permit the discharge”.

New septic tank discharges in SPZ1 are not and will not be permitted.