Water permits and exemptions

Types of permits, licences, consents and exemptions

Permits, licences, consents and registered exemptions are required for a range of water-related activities, including:

1. •

   discharges to surface water. See Practice Note: Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—water discharge activities

2. •

   discharges to groundwater. See Practice Note: Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—groundwater activities

3. •

   activities that could affect flood risk (flood risk activities). See Practice Note: Environmental permitting—flood risk activities

4. •

   water abstraction. See Practice Note: Water abstraction and impounding

5. •

   water impoundment. See Practice Note: Water abstraction and impounding

6. •

   discharges to public sewer. See Practice Note: Trade effluent consents and agreements—when are they required?

7. •

   small sewage discharges. See Practice Note: Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—domestic septic tanks and small sewage treatment plants

8. •

   reservoirs. See Practice Note: Reservoir registration

Due diligence in transactions

Practitioners advising on corporate, property and banking transactions need to check whether the target/seller holds all relevant water-related permits as part of the due diligence process. This extends to residential conveyancing transactions, for example, where a person is purchasing a property with a domestic septic tank or small sewage treatment plant.

Practitioners will also need to consider: