Maintaining Your Sewage Plant


Here are the recent sample certificate of a local council's treatment plants that we look after. We have maintained their sewage treatment plants for over 10

Sample certificate of a local council's treatment plants that we look after

years. As you can see by the certificate they are seeing a huge benefit in having us regularly visit and maintain their sewage plants. Every treatment plant is not only within the discharge consent but massively exceeds the EA's requirements.

The EA requirements are as such: A new sewage treatment plant site or an expansion of an existing sewage treatment plant will be evaluated through the MEA's Municipal Class EA (Municipal Engineers Association’s Municipal Class Environmental Assessment) process and will be documented in the ESR (Environmental Study Report). An environmental assessment is used as a planning tool. The objectives of an environmental assessment are to: minimize or avoid adverse environmental effects before they occur.

Factors that will be taken into consideration consist of:

  • Locations of drinking water sources, surface water intakes and groundwater wells;
  • Adequacy of isolation from residential areas and land use surrounding plant site;
  • Prevailing wind directions;
  • Susceptibility of site to flooding;
  • Suitability of soil conditions;
  • Adequacy of site for future expansion and/or provision for additional treatment stages;
  • Suitability of site with respect to access to receiving body of water or other means of treated sewage effluent disposal;
  • Assimilation capacity of receiving water body;
  • Acceptability of site with respect to sludge disposal/utilization options on site or access to areas off site; and
  • Design capacity

If these are not met or you are disposing of sewage without a permit (you may need an environmental permit if you discharge liquid effluent or wastewater (poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, waste matter, or trade or sewage effluent): into surface waters, for example, rivers or into the ground.

To have a permit you will need to apply to the Environment Agency in order to be granted any standalone water discharge or groundwater activity - standalone meaning the activity is not part of a waste operation. You’re breaking the law if you operate without a permit if you should have one.

If you would like Bates Environmental to maintain your sewage treatment plant then please don't hesitate to contact us.