Guidelines to Statutory Order on the Licensing of Waste Water Discharges

3. Content of the waste water plan

3.1 Background
3.2 The provisions of the Environmental Protection Act concerning waste water planning
3.2.1 General
3.2.2 Existing and planned sewage catchment areas. Ownership
3.2.3 Areas for which the duty to connect to the public waste water system may be revoked
3.2.4 State of repair and rehabilitation of sewer systems
3.2.5 Waste water planning for rural areas
3.2.6 Areas where waste water disposal is effected by percolation
3.2.7 Dispersed settlements subject to requirements regarding waste water treatment
3.2.8 Municipal/private systems
3.2.9 Timetable and financial plan
3.3 Supplementary requirements to be met by waste water plans
3.3.1 Compatibility of the waste water plan with other planning
3.3.2 Other types of waste water disposal within the municipality
3.3.3 Planned and existing discharge facilities
3.3.4 Economy
3.3.5 Compulsory acquisition of land and registration of a covenant
3.3.6 Establishment of a private shared waste water system
3.3.7 Revision of the waste water plan

Objectives

The municipal waste water plans aim to provide an overall survey of existing and planned procedures for waste water management within municipalities. In addition, the plans must highlight the environmental impact of these procedures and the financial consequences for the public waste water service. Finally, the waste water plans form the legal basis for connecting existing and new properties to the public collecting system.

3.1 Background

Under the first Environmental Protection Act, which was adopted in 1973, local authorities were required to prepare an overall plan for the disposal of waste water within the individual municipalities. The main idea was that these plans would serve as guidelines for organising waste water disposal within municipalities.

Today, all Danish municipalities have adopted a waste water plan. All that will be needed in future is therefore basically updating the existing plan for municipal disposal of waste water, including updating catchment area boundaries and preparing timetables.

With the adoption of Act No. 325 of 14 May 1997 to amend the Environmental Protection Act and the Act on payment rules for waste water installations etc. (treatment of waste water in rural areas) a number of changes were introduced in the form of requirements regarding the future content of municipal waste water plans. The amendments relating to waste water disposal in rural areas are to be incorporated in the municipal waste water plans 1½ years after the regional council’s adoption of a regional plan that will affect waste water disposal in rural areas, however, not earlier than 1 July 2000.

The Act as amended establishes special rules for waste water disposal in rural areas. In addition to the description given in this chapter, these rules will be dealt with in more detail in Chap. 12, below.

3.2 The provisions of the Environmental Protection Act concerning waste water planning

Pursuant to section 32 of the Environmental Protection Act, municipal waste water plans must provide information on the following:

	Existing and planned sewered areas and treatment measures
	Existing areas outside sewered areas where waste water is being discharged into the ground by percolation, and areas outside sewage catchment areas where waste water is planned to be discharged through infiltration plants
	Installations to be established on municipal or private initiative, respectively.

Act No. 325 of 14 May 1997 on treatment in rural areas of waste water etc. to amend the Environmental Protection Act includes a provision for municipal waste water plans to provide information on the following:

	Areas for which the local council is prepared to revoke, in full or in part, the right and duty of landowners to connect waste water systems to the public waste water system
	Existing state of repair of sewers and plans for their rehabilitation
	Existing areas outside sewage catchment areas in which waste water is treated according to a specific level of treatment, and plans for identifying similar areas outside sewage catchment areas, in which waste water is to be treated according to a specific level of treatment
	Indicative timetable for completion of the design and implementation of the construction projects.

The following sections deal with the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act, and to the extent that these provisions are supplemented by any of the rules specified in section 5 of the Waste Water Management Order, such rules are also mentioned and explained.

3.2.2 Existing and planned sewage catchment areas. Ownership

This section gives a more detailed description of the requirements set out in section 32(1)(i) of the Environmental Protection Act and section 5(1)(ii) of the Statutory Order.

The waste water plan must enumerate existing and planned common waste water systems in the municipality, with indication of the sewage catchment areas of each system. In addition, the max. load discharged from specified catchment areas of residential and commercial properties must be stated.

The properties located within the individual catchment area boundaries must be clearly indicated on maps appended to the waste water plan. Owners of properties situated within the boundary of the catchment area of a public waste water system have both a duty and a right to connect their waste water discharge to the system, provided that a service sewer is available at the site boundary.

It is recommended to use both a survey map, scale 1:25,000 or 1:50,000, and more detailed maps (cadastral maps), scale 1:10,000, that show the individual sewage catchment areas and the routing of the main sewer pipes.

It should be specified whether the waste water systems are under private or public ownership. However, this does not apply to ordinary private sewer pipes etc. on private land.

In respect of ownership of sewer pipes, existing as well as planned, it will usually be assumed in a waste water plan that all pipes, except service sewers etc. on private land, are owned by the municipality concerned.

It is therefore important to make a special note of any departures from this assumption.

The local authority’s obligations as service provider towards landowners whose properties are connected after the time limit fixed by the local council, cf. section 28(4) of the Environmental Protection Act, are limited as described in the waste water plan. Thus, it may be indicated in the plan that roof run-off from newly-sewered properties is to be discharged into the ground through infiltration plants established by the owner and at his expense. In such cases, the local council’s only obligation is to lay a separate service sewer to the site boundary to allow connection of domestic waste water etc. when the property is linked to the public waste water system.

Unless it is specifically mentioned that surface run-off is to be disposed of at the instance of the landowner, it is, basically, the responsibility of the local authorities to provide for the disposal of both waste water and surface run-off (but see section 3.2.3 below).

3.2.3 Areas for which the duty to connect to the public waste water system may be revoked

Under Act No. 325 of 14 May 1997 to amend the Environmental Protection Act, the local authority must now, cf. section 32(1)(ii) of the Environmental Protection Act, identify in the waste water plan the sewage catchment areas for which the local authority is prepared to revoke the right and duty to connect to the public waste water system. This applies to landowners who discharge waste water into the public collecting system and want to disconnect all or part of their waste water system from the public collecting system. Properties may be disconnected in full or in part, as described in more detail in Chap. 6.

The local council cannot compel a landowners to disconnect all or part of his waste water system from the public collecting system, as this is subject to agreement between the landowner and the local council, cf. Chap. 6 below and section 12(1)(ii) of the Statutory Order.

Private installations for the discharge of surface run-off are typically disconnected from the public waste water system when local discharge facilities for storm water, for example, to an infiltration pit, are established. A large number of properties may be involved, and their full or partial disconnection must be well organised. In respect of process waste water from industrial enterprises, however, decision will have to be made on a case-by-case basis; the waste water plan must be updated and a licence for alternative disposal issued before the enterprise concerned is allowed to disconnect from the public waste water system.

The following sections deal with the procedure for disconnecting installations for the disposal of surface run-off and industrial effluents.

Disconnection of surface run-off

To allow local authorities the necessary scope for the technical and financial planning of their waste water management, the municipal waste water plans should identify areas where, from an environmental and financial point of view, the disposal of surface run-off may advantageously be left to the individual site owners, and where the local authority is therefore prepared to revoke the right and duty of landowners to connect their waste water systems to the public waste water system.

In order to make the planning process more flexible, the local council may follow up on the identification of such areas by offering the landowners in the area the possibility to disconnect from the public common waste water system (where possible, with reimbursement of the connection fee). The offer shall be limited in time. Such time-limited offers to disconnect, for example, with regard to surface run-off, will make it easier for the local council to plan future capital investments in establishing and dimensioning stabilisation ponds in the catchment area.

The following procedure has been established for the disconnection of installations discharging surface run-off:

1. Identification of areas in which the local authority is prepared to allow disconnection of installations (typically for roof run-off)
2. Stipulation of a certain time limit (e.g. 1 year) within which the site owners in the area must decide whether they are prepared to disconnect their installations as described in the waste water plan (e.g. by establishing an infiltration pit at their own cost)
3. Adjustment of calculations for the catchment areas concerned to allow for the amount of surface run-off that will be disconnected.

Adjustment of catchment area calculations according to item 3) above does not call for a revision of the waste water plan, but the changes must be incorporated in the next revised version of the plan.

This procedure applies, in particular, to local discharges of surface run-off in areas where site owners at their own cost establish percolation ponds for the disposal of roof run-off and, where appropriate, other types of surface run-off as well. Accepting local percolation in areas with a common waste water system and a need to reduce overflow incidents allows the local council to reduce the necessary stabilisation pond capacity. Furthermore, the infiltration pits will also help reduce the hydraulic load on the treatment plant and increase ground water resources.

Disconnection of industrial effluents

Disconnection of industrial effluents is subject to the following conditions:

	Revision of the waste water plan for the relevant enterprise, including adjustment of load calculations for the treatment plant
	Issuance of the necessary licences for alternative disposal of the process waste water.

In the case of industrial effluents, it is important that the local council obtains the enterprise’s definitive acceptance of the disconnection before planning other uses for the resulting surplus capacity of the municipal waste water system.

Landowners who have terminated their connection to the public common waste water system, but want to be reconnected, may apply for reconnection on the same conditions as applicants for new connections. This means that landowners are not automatically entitled to be reconnected.

3.2.4 State of repair and rehabilitation of sewer systems

The waste water plan must describe the current state of repair of sewer systems and any planned rehabilitation, cf. section 32(1)(iii) of the Environmental Protection Act.

As used in this section, the term ‘sewer systems’ applies in particular to separate and combined sewer networks.

The new provisions have been introduced because the local authorities have failed to keep up-to-date with respect to the general condition of the sewer systems; they aim to provide an overview of the state of repair of the systems and their need for rehabilitation.

Status reports on the condition of the sewer piping should be based on inspection, for example, using TV equipment. If no status report was available for the sewer systems when the waste water plan was drawn up, a timetable for the completion of such a report must be included in the plan.

Objectives and priorities

In continuation of section 32(1)(iii) of the Environmental Protection Act, section 5(1)(v) of the Waste Water Management Order requires the local council to work out a rehabilitation plan for the municipal collecting systems, with objectives and priorities. The objectives should include the quality of the collecting systems, the frequency of overloading during rain events, etc. The order in which the collecting systems are to be rehabilitated should be established from an analysis of where rehabilitation is most urgently needed, taking into consideration such factors as the degree of deterioration of the piping, how critical the lack of maintenance is to the population in the individual areas, the aquatic environment, etc.

In addition to the description given in the text, the condition of the collecting system and the plan for its rehabilitation should be clearly illustrated on maps.

3.2.5 Waste water planning for rural areas

According to the Explanatory Notes to Act No. 325 of 14 May 1997 to amend the Environmental Protection Act (Waste water treatment in rural areas etc.), the local council is responsible for planning, for each sewage catchment area within the municipality, the combination of sewerage, percolation and specified type of local treatment, etc. that is to apply to properties located in rural areas. Such planning should be based on the environmentally sensitive areas identified in the regional plans.

Areas in which no common waste water treatment plants capable of serving 30 p.e. or more exist or are planned must be divided into sub-areas in the waste water plan or an addendum thereto with indication of the minimum environmentally acceptable measures for percolation and/or treatment required in each subarea, according to the classes of treatment described in Schedule 1 to the Statutory Order, but see section 11.3 below.

The waste water plan must further indicate whether the improved treatment measures should be realised in the form of single-property facilities or small common plants, and how these measures are to be implemented.

The indication of percolation or/and treatment facilities for subareas/catchment areas within the municipality should be based on the identification in the regional plan of environmentally sensitive areas in which there is a need for improved treatment of waste water from properties in rural areas.

When revising an existing waste water plan, and before making the proposed plan available to the public, the local council must submit the draft to the regional council to ensure that there is no conflict between the objectives defined in the regional plan for the waters concerned and the subareas identified in the proposal. In this connection, the environmentally acceptable minimum of percolation and/or treatment facilities to be established in these subareas should be indicated.

3.2.6 Areas where waste water disposal is effected by percolation

Pursuant to section 32(1)(iv) of the Environmental Protection Act, the municipal waste water plan shall, on an area-by-area basis, identify all the properties located in areas outside municipal catchment areas in which waste water disposal takes place by percolation. The properties concerned should be clearly indicated on the maps appended to the waste water plan. This information will be used to provide an overview of the conditions of disposal in rural areas and to determine the load discharged from non-sewered properties into watercourses, lakes and coastal waters.

The waste water plan must further indicate the individual properties on which infiltration plants are to be established.

In the final analysis, the decision of whether percolation is an appropriate method of waste water disposal for a given site must in each case be based on an assessment pursuant to Part 12 of the Statutory Order. The waste water plan must specify the required degree of treatment (class of treatment) for each site, to prepare for the eventuality that a subsequent examination may show the existing conditions on a particular site to be unsuitable for percolation purposes.

According to section 5(2) of the Statutory Order, the local council must establish that the areas assigned in the waste water plan for disposal of waste water by percolation are suitable for this purpose. In this connection, the local council must render it probable that percolation will not conflict with the prevailing geological and/or hydrogeological conditions, nor with the rules set out in section 28 of the Statutory Order. The Statutory Order does not detail the kind of information to be provided by the local council in such cases, as the need to prove on a balance of probabilities that percolation is possible will vary widely from area to area.

However, the local council should realise that if the overall identification of percolation areas is not made on a sufficiently detailed basis and with relative certainty that this disposal method can be used in the areas concerned, problems may arise later if the local council requires a site owner to establish facilities for direct percolation under the new provision on enforcement notices in section 30(5) of the Environmental Protection Act. An alternative waste water solution may result in extra costs and may make the solution foreseen in the waste water plan less appropriate, given the changed assumptions.

The best way to ensure that, in all probability, percolation is a feasible solution is by providing documentation similar to that required in connection with an enforcement notice to establish percolation facilities:

The local authorities must carry out an examination to establish the probability that percolation is a viable solution, with special emphasis on the following:

	Hydrogeological conditions
	Suitability of the soil for this purpose
	Clearance distance from the ground water table
	Exclusion zones around water abstraction plants.

The local authorities must further identify a suitable location on the site that meets the requirements set out in section 28, alternatively section 16, of the Statutory Order.

The possibility of making a combined assessment of the water supply system and the disposal system for waste water should be considered already at the planning stage. From an overall point of view, it is sometimes appropriate to connect single properties having their own water abstraction facilities to the common water supply, as this makes it possible to establish infiltration plants on such properties.

3.2.7 Dispersed settlements subject to requirements regarding waste water treatment

Pursuant to section 32(1)(v) of the Environmental Protection Act, the waste water plan for areas located outside sewage catchment areas must identify the following:

	Existing areas where treatment is carried out to a specific level of treatment
	Areas for which treatment to a specific level has been planned.

The term ‘level of treatment’ means treatment according to one of the four classes of treatment defined in Schedule 2 to the Statutory Order and section 11.3 of these Guidelines.

The areas identified should be clearly indicated on maps appended to the waste water plan.

The area identification made in the waste water plan forms part of the basis for issuing enforcement notices for improved waste water treatment pursuant to section 30 of the Environmental Protection Act.

Applications for new discharge licences must, as a minimum, meet the levels of treatment specified for the areas identified in the waste water plan.

If the necessary mapping of the discharge facilities in these areas is carried out in connection with the drafting of the waste water plan, this is sufficient documentation for the purposes of any subsequent enforcement notices, see section 11.3 below. Provided that the information on which the plan is based is adequate, enforcement notices may subsequently be issued without making individual assessments of the load discharged into the receiving water body from each of the properties in the area.

3.2.8 Municipal/private systems

A distinction must be made in the waste water plan between systems established at the instance of the local authority and by private site owners, cf. section 32(1)(vi) of the Environmental Protection Act. Reference should also be made here to section 5(1)(ii) of the Statutory Order, according to which it must be stated for existing as well as planned common waste water systems, whether they are under public or private ownership (see also section 3.2.2, above).

The boundaries of the individual sewage catchment areas must be clearly shown on maps appended to the waste water plan.

3.2.9 Timetable and financial plan

According to section 32(1)(vii) of the Environmental Protection Act, the waste water plan must indicate the timetable according to which the projects are assumed to be designed and implemented. This applies to municipal systems, private systems, rehabilitation of pipes and installations subject to enforcement notices pursuant to section 30 of the Environmental Protection Act and section 7a of the Act on payment rules for waste water installations.

It is recommended that this timetable include a specification of the costs incurred by the public waste water service due to the provisions of the waste water plan. This applies, in particular, to the costs of improving facilities for waste water treatment in rural areas, cf. section 5(1)(vi) of the Statutory Order. See also section 3.3.4 below.

3.3 Supplementary requirements to be met by waste water plans

Section 32(4) of the Environmental Protection Act empowers the Minister to establish specific rules for waste water planning. Such rules are set out in section 5 of the Statutory Order.

Section 5(1) contains a list of eight supplementary requirements, two of which have already been described, viz. section 5(1)(ii) (in section 3.2.2 above), and section 5(1)(v), (in section 3.2.4). The other six paragraphs are discussed below.

3.3.1 Compatibility of the waste water plan with other planning

This section reviews the requirements in section 5(1)(i) of the Statutory Order.

The waste water plan must be consistent with all other planning, local as well as regional.

Compatibility with regional planning

The term ‘regional planning’ refers to the regional plan in particular. The most important part of the regional plan relative to the waste water plan is the quality objectives set for the regional waters. Thus, disposal of waste water pursuant to the waste water plan must not impede the achievement of the quality objectives established in the regional plan.

The waste water plan should therefore formulate quality objectives for the waters located within the municipality, especially freshwater bodies. To the extent that discharges of waste water encompassed by the waste water plan prevent achievement of these objectives, strategies should be formulated with a view to meeting the objectives. New discharge facilities must not impede the achievement of objectives set for watercourses, lakes and coastal waters.

Compatibility with municipal and local plans

The waste water plan must also be consistent with the municipal plan, which contains a general land-use survey for the municipality. Finally, compatibility must be ensured with the provisions of any local plans, especially such that relate to or affect the disposal of waste water. Local plans typically impose restrictions with regard to the character of the buildings (including facilities for waste water disposal) and the type of paving that may be used within the area, and it is the responsibility of the local council to ensure that the catchment area loads specified in the waste water plan are consistent with those specified in the local plans.

Timing

The establishment of municipal waste water systems should be timed so as to avoid conflict with the physical planning (development etc.).

Physical condition of watercourses

The local council must ensure that the discharge into watercourses of effluents, in particular surface run-off, is arranged in such a manner that no nuisance will be created to adjacent properties further downstream, i.e. with due respect to the hydraulic capacity of the watercourse. This requires compliance with the assumptions in the rules and regulations applying to the watercourse in question. Any maximum limits fixed in these rules and regulations for effluents from the individual subareas must be respected. If this is not possible, the surface water load will have to be delayed/distributed, or any increase in the volume of the effluents to be discharged into the watercourse will have to await the outcome of administrative watercourse regulation proceedings.

If no rules and regulations have been issued for the watercourse, or if no maximum limit for the discharge of effluents has been fixed in the existing regulations, it will have to be determined in each case whether the hydraulic capacity of the watercourse allows a load increase. As a main rule, such cases call for either delay or distribution of the surface water load, or, alternatively, rules must be established for the watercourse.

The final assessment of the effect of the effluents on the physical condition of the watercourses may take place in connection with the regional or local council’s issuing of a discharge licence for surface run-off. The licensing authority shall ensure that discharge takes place with due regard being paid to the physical condition of the watercourse.

3.3.2 Other types of waste water disposal within the municipality

Under section 5(1)(iii) of the Statutory Order, the waste water plan shall indicate how waste water disposal takes place in areas that are located outside sewage catchment areas and not included among the identified areas, cf. section 32(1)(iv) and (v)of the Environmental Protection Act. Such means of disposal may include spraying, separate pipes, private shared waste water systems, road installations, etc.

These methods of waste water disposal must also be shown not to impede the achievement of the objectives set for the receiving water bodies, watercourses, lakes and coastal waters. If there is a need for improved treatment of waste water discharged through separate pipes or by spraying, the necessary substance reductions for such discharges should be specified in the waste water plan.

3.3.3 Planned and existing discharge facilities

According to section 5(1)(iv) of the Statutory Order, the waste water plan must indicate the water bodies to which the waste water from the individual sewage catchment areas (cf. section 32(1)(i) of the Environmental Protection Act) is or is required to be discharged, together with the location of outfalls and the expected volume to be discharged. The location of outfalls should be indicated on maps appended to the waste water plan.

In order to provide a basis for an overall assessment in connection with defining the objectives and corresponding quality standards to be set out in the regional plan, the municipal waste water plan should also include information concerning discharges outside public sewage catchment areas, existing as well as planned.

3.3.4 Economy

According to section 5(1)(vi), the waste water plan must further indicate the estimated cost of establishing and operating the public waste water systems and installations established by the local council under section 7a of the Act on payment rules for waste water installations etc., cf. Statutory Order No. 923 of 5 December 1997.

The plan should indicate the time of payment of such expenses, and their distribution on sewer networks, treatment facilities, etc. It is especially important to itemise the costs incurred by the public waste water service in connection with improvement of waste water treatment in rural areas, installation of new sewers and tenders/contracts under section 7a of the Act on payment rules for waste water installations etc.

3.3.5 Compulsory acquisition of land and registration of a covenant

According to section 5(1)(vii) of the Statutory Order, the plan must identify the landowners that may have to give up land by compulsory sale or upon whose property a covenant will have to be registered if projects are implemented as stipulated in the waste water plan.

3.3.6 Establishment of a private shared waste water system

As an alternative to a municipal collecting system, the disposal of waste water may be effected by establishing a private shared waste water system. Such installations must be included in the waste water plan for the relevant catchment area(s), cf. section 5(1)(ii) of the Statutory Order.

This provision addresses the situation where a group of home and site owners agree to take steps to establish and operate a private shared waste water system, and submits a proposal to this effect to the local council. The reasons given in support of such proposal may be that a common system is a cheaper and environmentally sounder solution than establishing a separate installation on each site.

On the other hand, the provision does not empower the local council to make it mandatory on all landowners in a given area to join a private shared waste water system.

Prior to or in connection with the drafting of the waste water plan, the home and site owners affected must establish a waste water association, cf. section 5(3) of the Statutory Order, which will be responsible for establishing and operating the system.

A draft of the association’s by-laws must be made available in connection with the publishing of the draft plan. The finalised by-laws will be registered on the properties affected when the common waste water system has been included in the waste water plan.

Alternatively, the private shared waste water system may be connected to the public waste water system upon the request of the participating site and home owners. In this case, the area will be classified as a private shared waste water system located within the boundary of the public waste water system’s catchment area.

Before connecting the private installation to the public waste water system, the waste water association must obtain a connection licence from the local council, cf. section 28(3) of the Environmental Protection Act.

3.3.7 Revision of the waste water plan

Pursuant to section 5(4) of the Statutory Order, the local council must update the plan for disposal of waste water within the municipality. In this connection, catchment area boundaries and timetables should also be updated.

The Statutory Order and the Environmental Protection Act do not contain any provisions regarding the intervals at which the plan should be subjected to a general revision. However, the plan must be currently revised in order to ensure that it remains consistent with the regional plan.

With regard to waste water discharges from dispersed settlements, the plan must be revised, cf. section 8 of the Statutory Order, no later than 18 months after the adoption of a regional plan that introduces changes relating to the disposal of waste water from dispersed settlements
(see also Chap. 11).