Animal disease outbreak: prevent pollution from cleaning and disinfection
How to clean and disinfect after an animal disease outbreak and store and dispose of the washwater.
Cleaning and disinfecting (also known as ‘cleansing and disinfecting’) after an outbreak of animal disease (for example, salmonella or avian flu) produces more washwater with higher concentrations of disinfectant than routine cleaning.
This guidance helps you:
- follow pollution prevention rules when you clean and disinfect
- reduce the cost of disinfectant washwater storage and disposal
- follow the law on washwater disposal
Before you clean and disinfect
Fill in the disposal of disinfectant washwater form.
The Environment Agency will assess your proposed disposal method, and tell you if you need an environmental permit to dispose of washwater on land (known as landspreading). You must have all the necessary Environment Agency permissions before you dispose of your washwater.
If you clean and disinfect a free-range poultry farm, move poultry sheds to an area where you can contain the washwater where possible.
How to clean and disinfect
If a notifiable disease is confirmed on your premises, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) will advise you on cleaning standards and options you can take.
In most notifiable disease outbreaks, the occupier of the premises, will be responsible for cleansing and disinfection and its cost. You must follow APHA’s instructions on how to do this.
You must use a disinfectant approved by Defra for the disease.
Dispose of washwater
The Environment Agency will provide advice, recommendations and authorisations on what you can do at your premises to make sure you lawfully dispose of your washwater.
You could face enforcement action and get an unlimited fine if you allow washwater or disinfectant to enter:
- groundwater through uncontrolled seepage through the ground
- surface waters - for example, ditches, rivers, coastal waters
Use your existing waste disposal systems where possible. You should use the following methods in order of preference.
You must meet the waste duty of care requirements. If you do not meet your duty of care, you could face enforcement action and get an unlimited fine.
Drain to a foul sewer (best option)
The most environmentally-friendly wastewater disposal option is to discharge washwater to a foul sewer.
You must get approval from your wastewater service supplier before you add disinfectant washwater to a foul sewer.
Use a registered waste carrier (option 2)
You must not let waste carriers dispose of your waste illegally.
Dispose on land (option 3)
If you want to dispose of waste on land (also known as landspreading), you must complete a disposal of disinfectant washwater form and send it to the Environment Agency PSC-WaterQuality@environment-agency.gov.uk.
The Environment Agency will then tell you whether you need to apply for a permit or not. You must have an environmental permit to carry out landspreading, unless the Environment Agency says you do not need one.
No landspreading of disinfectant washwaters can take place until a permit has been granted or the Environment Agency has confirmed you do not need a permit. APHA may also ask you to store washwater for a set time period before landspreading.
Environmental permit application forms
If you need to apply for a permit, you must download and fill in all the following application forms:
- Part A: about you
- Part B2: bespoke permit
- Part B7: bespoke groundwater permit
- Part F1: charges and declarations
Email the completed forms to PSC-WaterQuality@environment-agency.gov.uk. In all situations, washwater must be disposed at least:
- 10 metres (m) from rivers, streams and field ditches
- 30m from streams with nature conservation status
- 50m from boreholes, wells and springs used for drinking water or food production
- 250m from solution features, such as sinkholes, swallow holes, swallets
Permit applications can take up to 20 working days and you must pay an application fee. How much you pay will depend on the volume and materials used. The Environment Agency will advise you how much you need to pay after they’ve received your permit application.
Store washwater before disposal
If you need to store disinfectant washwater before you dispose of it, use your existing dirty water or effluent management storage systems if you can.
Make sure existing drains that serve yards and livestock buildings connect to the effluent management system. Unconnected drains can lead to uncontrolled polluting discharges.
If you clean and disinfect areas that are not connected to your storage system, you can:
- redirect existing drains
- lay new drains
- build temporary storage
Slurry stores
You should avoid using a slurry store for disinfectant washwaters.
If you add disinfectant washwater to a slurry store, all of the disinfectant washwater will become waste. In this case, you must apply for an environmental permit to landspread the entire contents of the store.
Check how much storage you need
During an animal disease outbreak, you’ll produce more washwater than normal from:
- biosecurity cleaning
- vehicle and equipment washing during culling
- preliminary cleaning and disinfection
- secondary cleaning and disinfection
To calculate how much washwater storage you need, consider:
- water flow rate of the pressure washer you use
- average rainfall for your area that falls into open stores, or onto hard surfaced areas that drain into stores
Build temporary storage
You must agree the location and construction of temporary washwater storage systems with the Environment Agency before you build them.
If you build a temporary lagoon, you must meet the rules for storing silage, slurry and agricultural fuel oil (known as SSAFO).
The temporary lagoon must:
- be 10m from watercourses or ditches
- be 50m from wells, springs or boreholes used for drinking water or food production
- have a base above the water table
- have a gap of at least 750 millimetres between the surface of the lagoon’s content and the top of the lagoon wall
- have a liner, unless there’s at least 1m of clay subsoil below the base
- have liners made from butyl rubber or plastic (PVC or high or low density polyethylene)
- not use a low grade liner in a high risk groundwater area
Using temporary storage
Avoid filling earth bank stores above ground level.
You must not use temporary washwater storage for more than 12 months.
Last updated 27 October 2021 + show all updates
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New guidance added on what to do after animal disease outbreak disinfection and before you dispose washwater.
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First published.