That led us to consider what we could
do to help those people who are responsible for Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Plants to understand the UK
legislation on watercourse and groundwater protection. Most will be familiar through their site environmental permitting arrangements anyway, but we wanted to provide an accessible reminder which would also be useful to our international readers who might view it as "good practice" worth following, even if similar local regulations don't exist in their location.
The idea is that a better appreciation of the law in this area, and what causes most spillages, should help to ensure that those responsible, such as site managers and plant operators carry out what is in fact their legal duty (in the UK). That is to assess risks from their liquid storage installations and reduce all such risks to their minimum which in most cases (as for anaerobic digestion plants) means providing suitable containment.
The idea is that a better appreciation of the law in this area, and what causes most spillages, should help to ensure that those responsible, such as site managers and plant operators carry out what is in fact their legal duty (in the UK). That is to assess risks from their liquid storage installations and reduce all such risks to their minimum which in most cases (as for anaerobic digestion plants) means providing suitable containment.
The answer, we thought, would be to
post the infographic image below which is based upon a UK Chartered Institute of
Waste Management Fact File.
It provides the legal basis for
compliance by owners/ operators of factories and other potentially polluting
sites, making sure that they appreciate their legal liability should they fail
to follow the guidance. It then provides a summary of some of the most important
requirements for minimizing pollution risks from processes like anaerobic
digestion, where collapse or even a leak can harm large areas of groundwater, or
long stretches of rivers if either the mixed-liquor, stored digestate, or even uncontrolled maturation slab run-off reaches rivers, or soaks into the ground and into the groundwater.
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Here, in text, is what the CIWM said in their Fact File:OPERATORS OF permitted facilities are responsible for complying with their environmental permit and for preventing pollution of air, land and water.
Waste management facilities have the potential to cause significant environmental harm, which could threaten water supplies, public health and wild life in the event of an environmental incident such as fire, explosion or spillage.
A facility found guilty of causing a pollution incident could face a fine of up to £50000 in the Magistrates Court.
In order to prevent environmental harm you should be aware of the following:
The source of the contaminant;
- the most common pollutant in the UK is oil
The pathway
The receptor
- this could be the site's surface water drainage system or via off-site surface drainage, direct run-off, foul drainage system or into the atmosphere
- ie a river, groundwater, the local population.
Potential causes of environmental incidents include:
- delivery and use of materials
- plant or equipment failure
- containment failure
- fire, explosion or failure to contain fire fighting water
- wrong connections of sewers and pipes
- discharge of partially-treated or raw effluent
- vandalism
- flooding of part or all of your site.
Those operating waste facilities need to assess the risk from every one of the above listed potential causes, in the context of the source (degree and nature of pollution), the pathway to the permeable ground, river, ditch or stream which would become the receptor.
