Guidelines to Statutory Order on the Licensing of Waste Water Discharges 4. Consideration and adoption of the proposed waste water plan4.1 Background 4.1 Background The procedure for drawing up and adopting waste water plans was made significantly less formal with the amendment of the Environmental Protection Act (Act No. 358 of 6 June, 1991), which entered into force on 1 January, 1992. Originally, waste water plans were subject to final approval by the regional council, but under the Environmental Protection Act as amended in 1991, the regional councils are no longer responsible for ensuring compatibility between municipal waste water planning and overall water quality planning. Today, the local council has the authority to draw up and adopt waste water plans, as well as the duty to ensure that the plans are consistent with the water quality objectives set in the regional plan (see also section 3.3.1 above). 4.2 Public hearing The local council’s proposed waste water plan must be published in local papers, accompanied by an invitation for the public to submit objections and comments to the plan within a time limit of at least eight weeks from the publishing date. The local council decides whether it is necessary to hold public meetings to discuss the proposed waste water plan. If public meetings are held, the local council must allow reasonable time after the meeting(s) for the public to submit objections/suggested amendments to the proposed waste water plan. 4.3 The regional council’s role in waste water planning Simultaneously with the publication of the proposed waste water plan, it is sent to the regional council for comment, cf. section 6(2) of the Statutory Order. Before the local council announces the adoption of a waste water plan pursuant to section 7 of the Statutory Order, it must obtain the regional council’s comments regarding any conflicts between the quality objectives set in the regional plan for the region’s receiving waters and the future minimum measures stipulated in the proposed waste water plan for percolation and/or waste water treatment to be established in the subareas identified in the regional plan, cf. section 32(1)(iv) and (v) of the Environmental Protection Act. The regional council and the local council do not necessarily have to agree on every detail of the waste water plan, but they are expected to discuss the content of the plan before its publication and subsequent adoption, in order to reach agreement on such matters as the measures to be taken to ensure that the plan complies with the guidelines laid down in the regional plan for the use and quality of the waters concerned. 4.4 The local council’s adoption of the proposed plan As mentioned under 4.1 above, the power to decide the final content of the plan on the basis of comments received is vested in the local council. When the proposed plan has been finally adopted by the local council, it is published in the local papers and at the same time sent to the regional council, cf. section 7 of the Statutory Order. 4.5 Legal effects of the waste water plan After adoption, the waste water plan is the legally binding basis for the local authority’s administration of the waste water sector and establishes the framework for waste water management in the municipality. The local council is responsible for establishing or modifying the municipal systems included in the waste water plan in accordance with the timetable provided in the plan. Similarly, the local council is expected to issue the licences and enforcement notices, etc. necessary to ensure, to the extent that it is within the powers vested in it by legislation, that other installations included in the plan are established in accordance with the timetable fixed in the waste water plan. Thus, the waste water plan as such does not place the citizens of a municipality under an obligation to implement specific measures. The waste water plan merely serves as an "advance notice" that the local authority will shortly be taking steps to change the existing arrangement for waste water disposal in a number of catchment areas. In the event that a local authority wants to postpone the implementation of measures adopted under the waste water plan, or change the plan in any other respects, including changing the boundaries of sewage catchment areas or the conditions relating to the discharge of waste water within a specific catchment area, the local council will have to revise the existing waste water plan. 4.6 Right of appeal Under section 32(3) of the Environmental Protection Act, there is no appeal to other administrative authorities against a local council’s adoption of a waste water plan. According to the general rules on judicial review, a municipal waste water plan can be brought before a court within the special time limit applying to the filing of actions in environmental matters, cf. section 101 of the Environmental Protection Act.
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