Waste Water

Why Do Companies Need Permission to Discharge Waste into the Sewer?

Polluted water being discharged from a sewer pipe into a river

A number of our environmental health and safety articles have talked about how contaminants can easily be carried over large areas by water, with this pollution bringing about death and destruction to living organisms such as plants, insects, fish and other animals. As well as deliberate discharges into watercourses, this form of pollution can also be brought about through rainfall or flooding of a site, which carries away contaminants into the local environment.

Whilst rainfall and flooding can carry away large amounts of contaminant and cause significant harm, the direct discharge of waste into a watercourse can often be more damaging. This is because it is usually in a much higher concentration, and will especially cause health issues for those fish and other aquatic creatures which are present in the water near the source where the waste is discharged and enters the waterway.

The potential devastation that can be caused by the direct discharge of waste into a sewer means that legislation exists in developed countries across the world which prohibits the discharging of waste and contaminated water into the sewer or watercourses without a valid permit to do so. The granting of this permit is only done so when officials have deemed that the quantity and/or type of waste being discharged is within accepted guidelines in terms of its potential impact upon the environment. Inspections and monitoring is also likely to be performed by external inspectors to ensure that discharges of waste still complies with the original terms for which the permit was issued, i.e. a higher concentration or different substance is not being discharged by the company after they have received a permit. Companies should also perform their own internal monitoring and checks to ensure that they are still within acceptable parameters and so will not get into trouble with regulators.

Why Contact the Sewer Provider in the Event of Pollutant Discharge?

Drains and the sewers are to many people a means of disposing any sort of waste liquid, believing that once it enters it has gone forever and no longer has anything to do with them. They are of the mindset that because it is a facility for the disposal of liquids that any sort of liquid waste can be tipped down the drain and forgotten about, as it will be up to someone else to do the necessary in terms of treating it.

The reality is that certain types of liquid substances can cause severe damage to the environment and to the health and safety of all living creatures - including human beings - and as such people need to be aware of this potential. This largely comes about through training, whether it is the NEBOSH Environmental Certificate course or a similar environmental training session which makes attendees aware of the potential devastating impact they can have upon the environment if they were to do (or not do) a certain action.

Even though drains, sewerage systems and treatment plants are designed to accommodate liquid which would cause illness and be harmful to health if ingested, there will still be certain hazardous substances which can be dangerous even after passing through the treatment plant, and can cause death and ill-health to animal and plant life if it were to somehow get into the land and groundwater. In this scenario it can make water toxic for fish and other marine creatures, and cause death or ill-health to animals which drink the water or plants whose roots take it up.

The potential for catastrophic consequences are therefore high, and as such if a company becomes aware of particularly hazardous liquids being disposed of into the drains then it needs to call the sewer provider or local environmental agency and make them aware, as certain containment steps may need to be enacted quickly to limit the impact from any such incident. It may not be safe for employees to attempt any sort of clean-up of liquids which have not gone down the drain, certainly at least before a professional assessment of the risk and evaluation of the situation, as this could jeopardise the health and safety of these individuals by having them encounter hazardous substances.

Different countries and jurisdictions will have varying legislation and regulations regarding which substances and in what quantities can be disposed of into the sewer system. Managers need to be aware of these limits, and ensure that employees have been suitably trained so that they are knowledgeable about what can and cannot be disposed of in this manner. A failure to do so can not only mean that habitats can be destroyed and plants and animals suffer, but can also result in crippling fines for the company and possibly even imprisonment for managers in extremely severe cases.

Screening Waste Water

Objects in the water which is being released into nearby watercourses can be damaging to the environment and contribute to pollution levels, particularly if the object is one which can give off harmful contaminants into the water and cause issues such as the poisoning of the water. This can result in the death of any aquatic creatures in the water such as fish, as well as those animals which rely on the water for drinking. In certain situations this contaminated water can even cause health problems for humans if it were to find its way into the drinking water supplies of homes and businesses. This is more likely in developing countries where sanitation levels and water treatment is nowhere near as comprehensive as it is in developed countries.

One of the simplest ways of removing waste materials from water is to erect screens which act as a barrier for large objects, trapping them behind the screen and preventing the item getting released into the "outside world" where it can do damage. Whilst some elements of health and safety require large expense and comprehensive training, it is refreshing to know that there are still remedies such as this which are simple and inexpensive but at the same time are highly effective at what they do.

Like many other health and safety protective measures, screens will need regular maintenance in order to ensure their continuing effectiveness. For starters, the screen will need to be regularly cleared of the build up of the waste materials. Whilst it should not reduce the effectiveness of the screen unless the weight of the build up combined with the flow of water puts so much pressure on the screen that it breaks, there is the possibility of blocking the channel and causing a flood. Not only can this damage surrounding buildings and equipment, but it will also allow the hazardous material to escape onto the land where it could ultimately do damage. The frequency of the cleaning will depend greatly upon the amount of waste material that is released and caught by the screen as the build-up can cause a dam to form.

The screen itself will also need to be monitored regularly to check it for damage which can result in gaps which let through some of the waste objects, thus lowering the effectiveness of the screen and resulting in it not doing what it was put there to do.

Temperature of Liquid Waste Discharge

Preventing water pollution and contamination will come about through a combination of management attitudes and directives, compliance with legislation, improved monitoring and control procedures, and the provision of environmental health and safety training to workers and putting them forward for qualifications like the NEBOSH Environmental Certificate for example.

The primary focus of water pollution, or more pertinently the prevention of it, usually revolves around the actual hazardous material being discharged in terms of what it is, its toxicity and what damage it can do. However one simple factor which is often overlooked is that of temperature. Non-hazardous liquid waste, even ordinary water, can be lethal for fish and other creatures living in the water if the temperature is either extremely hot or extremely cold when it comes into contact with them.

This danger will in most cases obviously only exist for those right next to the waste outlet, as hot or cold water released into a river, stream or ocean will quickly mix with the large volume of water and will not have an impact on raising the overall temperature. It will however be a problem when hot or cold liquid is released to a small, enclosed volume of water. A company may occasionally release a small amount of waste water into a pond for example, which can dramatically alter the temperature and cause harm to fish or other creatures living in the water such as frogs and tadpoles.

Even if the temperature of the water does not cause immediate damage to the health of life forms, regular discharges will over time alter the local ecosystem such as increasing the amount of algae and causing problems for other species.

Water and Environmental Training

Water is essential for life on earth, including humans, animals, and microscopic organisms. As well as water being required for life-sustaining biological processes such as energy generation, contaminated water can prove damaging or deadly, so not only is the availability of water imperative, but also its composition. This means that activities which do or may affect water quality are strongly scrutinised and controlled by environmental health and safety legislation, regulations and directives.

Environmental issues are having an ever-increasing effect upon businesses on what they can and cannot do, as well as their responsibilities with regards to environmental management and their impact upon their surroundings. It is for this reason that environmental health and safety training has increased exponentially over the last decade or two, with courses such as the NEBOSH Environmental Certificate and NEBOSH General Certificate, IOSH Managing Safely and construction courses such as the Site Managers SMSTS course all including elements of environmental protection in the syllabus.

Along with the general theory which goes with how to prevent pollution to local watercourses including lakes and rivers, businesses also need to be aware of the often numerous legislation which applies to them and is there to avoid pollution and contamination of water. A failure to learn this legislation and any subsequent breaches of it can result in serious legal consequences for the organisation or even the managers and directors personally. Ignorance of the law is not a defence, so there is no other alternative except to learn and familiarise yourself with it before a contravention occurs and it is by then too late.

Water Pollution Prevention for Businesses

Having clean water is a fundamental need for those living in an area. If water is contaminated with pollutants, residents cannot drink the water without risking every aspect of their health. Even though most areas have a water treatment plant, some water contaminants cannot be "treated" out of the water. Water is necessary for cooking, cleaning, and - most importantly - living. To have unclean drinking water is to be denied of a basic human necessity and must be addressed with the utmost urgency.

Businesses have a long history of causing the people of an area to have unclean drinking water. This history is so extensive that most Western countries have ruled the dumping of waste into lakes, streams, and so forth as illegal in all circumstances. By now, all Western companies should know that the purposeful dumping of chemicals or waste into lakes, seas, rivers, and so on is not only a terrible idea for the company's reputation and financial stability, but also for well-being of the area's residents.

Unfortunately, there is still a lot of waste from businesses that ends up in the water supply. Office paper, food wrappers, water bottles, and coffee cups still manage to somehow invade local waters despite the illegality and lessening of business waste dumping. Usually this waste is not put into the water supply on purpose. The waste travels to the water because of waste containers and dump sites that are either overflowing or are insecure. Nonetheless, pollution is pollution, whether done so purposefully or not. Companies, particularly those that are close to the water, need to contain and reduce their waste to lower the risk of some ending up in the water.

Before beginning the journey to reduce their contribution to water pollution, companies should know what is defined as "waste." Waste is any thing that has been thrown away and is meant to be sent off to a dump site. Contrary to popular belief, there are things that should and should not be waste.

Waste should not include any item that has a recycling symbol unless that item is soiled (meaning these items are caked with grease, oil, paint or another substance). All recyclable items should be recycled or, if feasible, composted. Additionally, waste should never include batteries, tyres, mercury lightbulbs, or any form of technology. These items contain or are highly toxic materials to the environment and should be taken to the appropriate recycling facilities to be disposed of properly.

Once companies know what is and is not defined as waste, they should begin to adhere to that knowledge. That means more items should be recycled and less items should end up in the rubbish bin. There is no need to have a bin full of paper, pizza boxes, water bottles, broken pencils and hard plastic food containers for instance. Once rinsed out if need be, all of these items can be recycled.

Companies should also lower their use of items that cannot be recycled or thrown away unless at a proper facility. Although companies should take such items to the proper facilities, most cannot find the time do so and likely will still end up throwing these items away. To avoid this, businesses should refrain from using these items if practical. That means using rechargeable batteries and avoiding mercury lightbulbs. Despite the fact that these lightbulbs are advertised as the environmentally friendly alternative to the conventional lightbulb, this is untrue. While mercury lightbulbs do consume less energy, if broken open, they prove to be exceptionally toxic to the environment and to the health and safety of people in the vicinity.

Recycled material is put back to use somewhere in the world meaning that there is no addition to landfill sites. Although safety measures will be in place for containment, these sites are sometimes major contributors to water pollution if liquids escape and find their way into local watercourses. Recycling helps to ease this problem and thus lessen the negative status of the water's health.

Re-Use as Well as Recycle

The re-use and conservation of material should take even more priority over the act of recycling materials, as items which can be re-used will not require any processing to change it as would be the case for recycling.

Businesses should have a general rule of thumb of "If it is still usable, use it." For example, the other side of one-page documents can be re-utilised to print another one-page document. Another example would be re-using page protectors that are in good condition instead of throwing away or recycling them with the rest of a project portfolio. If a document is more than one page, the office printer should be set to print automatically double-sided, as many people will either frequently forget or not even be aware of the fact that the printer has the capability to print on both sides of the paper. These simple tactics will save a tremendous amount of paper over the course of a year.

Instead of using disposable plastic cups for drinks of water, employees should be encouraged to use washable mugs which can be cleaned at the end of the day and re-used the following morning.

Waste and Recycling Storage

Once businesses reduce their waste, they should make sure the waste that they still have and their recycled items are stored and contained properly. Garbage receptacles should be difficult to open accidentally, but of course should be easy for the average worker to open. Recycling receptacles should also follow the same standards, and should be clearly identifiable as to which is for recycling and for what type of materials. If a business is located on or near the waterfront, they should not put any waste or recycling receptacle in front of the water front. If a stray piece of material is outside the bins and the tide or water level rises, the water will pick up this material, or the whole bin in severe weather such as flooding or high winds. To prevent this from happening, waterfront businesses should place their bins in a shielded area.

COSHH/Hazardous Substances

Aside from reducing and properly containing waste, businesses should be careful when using and storing cleaning supplies. The cleaning and disinfectant agents in the cleaner are by their very nature hazardous to biological life in order to kill germs, which means the ingredients in them are often extremely hazardous to the water supply and to a person's health in general. There are however a number of environmentally-friendly alternatives to mainstream cleaning products. Businesses will have to research these products to find which ones best suit their needs and budget.

Companies should never lose sight of the fact for every thing that ends up in the rubbish bin, it is one more potential item that could end up in the water supply. For every fluid ounce of toxic cleaner used to clean the workplace, that is one more fluid ounce of poison which could find its way into the water supply. Maintaining a clean water supply is key to having a healthy civilisation, and unpolluted water is essential for the health and wellbeing of creatures living in the water, so businesses always need to ensure that they are not polluting the water in every possible way they can for the benefit of both people and the environment.