Water

Water Quality - Sewage Treatment in the UK: Sensitive Areas

UK legislation on Sensitive Areas

The transposing Regulations require the identification of water bodies as “Sensitive Areas”, where the conditions in water bodies meet certain criteria that indicate they are adversely affected by sewage discharges. Water bodies identified as Sensitive Areas may be protected by providing more than secondary treatment at qualifying sewage treatment works. Qualifying sewage works are those that contribute to the pollution of Sensitive Areas and that cater for communities above a certain size.

Information on the basis for Sensitive Areas, how frequently water monitoring result are reviewed for possible further identification other related information is provided on the Sensitive Areas summary page.

The legislation transposing the Directive was amended in 2003 across the UK to clarify how Sensitive Areas are to be identified, or existing ones withdrawn, and to improve the way decisions on identifications are publicised.

The amendment regulations, upon Departmental decisions on waters bodies to be identified as Sensitive Areas, entails:

  • Issue by the Department of a Notice, and a Schedule listing Sensitive Areas to be identified, to relevant environmental regulators;
  • Publication by the Department of the Notice and Schedule on its website;
  • Department publishing an advert in a local daily publication* reproducing the Notice and Schedule issued to environmental regulators;
  • Authorities ensuring that current information on Sensitive Areas is made available through their websites;
  • Authorities ensuring that current maps of Sensitive Areas are made available for public inspection, at all reasonable times at their relevant principle offices, free of charge.

* London Gazette for England; Belfast Gazette for Northern Ireland, Edinburgh Gazette for Scotland, and for Wales in at least one daily newspaper circulating throughout that part of Wales to which the Notice relates.

Although not a statutory requirement, authorities may also issue news releases to coincide with the publication of the Notice appearing in the local publications.

Background

The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) was adopted by all EU member states in 1991. Its objective is to protect the environment from the adverse effects of waste water collected from homes and industrial premises, rainwater run-off collected by sewers and the sewage-sludge by-product resulting from the treatment of collected waste water .

It is one of a number of European Directives which set statutory obligations on Member States, and to which the UK authorities are fully committed, to protect both the water environment and our use of water, for drinking, recreation or industry.

The Directive sets standards and deadlines for the provision of sewerage systems, and treatment of sewage according to the size of the communities served by sewage treatment works and the sensitivity of receiving waters to their discharges.

In general, the Directive requires that before discharge to the environment collected wastewater is treated to at least secondary treatment standards for significant discharges. Secondary treatment is a biological treatment process where bacteria are used to break down the biodegradable matter (already much reduced by primary treatment) in waste water.

The Directive was transposed into UK legislation in 1994 in England, Wales and Scotland and in 1995 in Northern Ireland.

Page last modified 28 September 2007
Page published 21 October 2002

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs