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Abstractions Licences

Issued by the Environment Agency in accordance with the Water Resources Act 1963 and 1991. The EA has a duty to take action when necessary to conserve, redistribute or increase water resources and to secure its proper use.

Discharge Consents

Authorisations issued by the Environment Agency (and its predecessor the National Rivers Authority) to discharge to the water course from non-IPC processes in accordance with Section 84 (1) Water Resources Act 1991 (as amended by the Environment Act 1995).

Dangerous Substances

Consents are issued by the Environment Agency in accordance with Dangerous Substances Directive (76/464/EEC).

LList I substances are the most toxic / persistent, or may tend to accumulate in the environment, and pollution is reduced by eliminating their discharge. List II substances are thought to be less harmful and discharges of these to the environment should be restricted.

Hazardous Substance Consents

Sites subject to consent granted by the relevant local authority under the Planning (Hazardous Substances) Act 1990 .

Radioactive Consents

Sites registered by the Environment Agency under Radioactive Substances Act 1993 to keep, use or dispose of radioactive substances.

IPC Authorisations

Sites authorised by the Environment Agency under Part I Environmental Protection Act 1990 to carry out processes subject to Integrated Pollution Control. Relates to sites emitting discharges direct to land, water and air. Processes include fuel production, waste treatment and chemical production.

Pollution Inventory

Provides information on annual mass releases of specific substances to air, water, land or produced as waste, which arise from IPC Authorisations (Part A Processes), including point sources, diffuse sources and fugitive emissions.

Pollution Incidents

The National Incident Reporting System is currently undergoing restructuring and therefore, data may not be available for all regions at present. There are data protection issues which need to be resolved and all data held on this system falls outside of the Public Registers. It is hoped that this situation will be resolved in the near future.

Prohibitions & Enforcements

Sites relating to IPC authorised processes that have been subject to prohibition / enforcement action (including licence revocation proceedings) by the Environment Agency under the criminal / regulatory provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The National Enforcement Database is primarily for Agency internal use only and there are concerns over compliance with the Data Protection Act. It is hoped that this issue will be resolved in the near future.

River Quality Assessment

A river or designated water course where the quality of the water is monitored by the Environment Agency. Currently, only the chemical and biological components of the General Quality Assessment Scheme have been fully implemented.

“Chemical Quality”

Grades rivers class A-F (representing very good to bad quality) on the basis of the concentrations of BOD, ammonia and the dissolved oxygen in the rivers.

“Biological Quality”

Based on the monitoring of benthic macro-invertebrates (organisms living on the river bed). Each particular species thrives best under a narrow range of environmental conditions. Therefore, biological quality of a river will reflect the extent to which the river is affected by environmental stresses, including pollution from the whole range of chemicals.

Indicative Floodplains

Provide a general overview of areas of land in natural floodplains and therefore potentially at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. These maps are based upon historical flood records, survey records and computer models, however, they do not show flood defences. Where applicable, the maps indicate the extent of flooding for a 1% chance of flooding each year.

Groundwater Vulnerability

Information regarding the location of sensitive water resources, soil class and the presence of drift deposits. Groundwater vulnerability is designated by the Environment Agency.

Waste Treatment Sites

WWaste management facilities licensed by the Environment Agency under the Control of Pollution Act (COPA) 1974 and Section 36 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to treat, keep or dispose of controlled waste.

Pesticides and Trace Organics

A pesticide is defined under the Food and Environment Protection Act (1985) as “any substance, preparation or organism prepared or used for destroying any pest”. The monitoring programme is strongly governed by statutory requirements to monitor concentrations of the pesticides Parathion, g-HCH and Dieldrin in water, sediment and biota.