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Guidance

Dewatering building sites and other excavations: environmental permits

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Environment Agency
Part of:
Environmental permits: regulatory position statements, Business and the environment, Water quality, Environmental permits, and Water
Published:
1 February 2016
Last updated:
31 May 2017, see all updates
Applies to:
England (see guidance for Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales)

When you don't need a permit for a temporary discharge of uncontaminated water (such as rainwater) from an excavation to surface water.

You usually need a permit if you discharge liquid or waste water (poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, waste matter, or trade or sewage effluent) into surface water such as rivers, streams, estuaries, lakes, canals or coastal waters.

However, if you have a temporary discharge of uncontaminated water from an excavation to surface water (for example, pumping water out of excavations on a building site) and comply with the conditions in this guidance you don’t need to apply for a permit.

You don’t currently need a permit under these specific circumstances because the Environment Agency considers it to be low risk and has issued this temporary regulatory position statement (RPS).

If your water discharge is from ‘pump and treat’ (pumping out contaminated groundwater or water from contaminated land so it can be treated) or quarry activities, you need to get a bespoke permit.

Activity and conditions you must comply with

This RPS covers the discharge of uncontaminated water from excavations provided the discharge complies with all of the following conditions.

The discharge must:

  • be temporary and last less than 3 consecutive months
  • be made to a surface water (such as a river, stream or the sea)
  • not pollute surface water or adversely affect aquatic life, or designated sites or species
  • not result in the spread of non-native invasive species, parasites or disease
  • not cause flooding from surface water
  • not cause erosion of the banks or bed of surface water

The discharge must not be located within, or less than 500 metres upstream of:

  • Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
  • Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)
  • Special Protection Areas (SPA)
  • sites in the process of becoming SACs or SPAs (known as ‘candidate SACs’, ‘possible SACs’, ‘potential SPAs’ and ‘sites of community importance (SCIs)’
  • internationally designated Ramsar sites
  • other nature conservation sites, for example ancient woodlands, Local and National Nature Reserves - check the map for these
  • local wildlife sites (sites designated as having high local value for wildlife) – contact your local authority

Contact the Environment Agency if your discharge rate is more than 10% of the dry weather flow rate of the surface water. A high discharge rate may increase flood risk or have other local environmental consequences.

You must apply for a bespoke permit if you can’t meet these conditions.

Comply with the regulatory position statement

An RPS means that the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action against you if you haven’t applied for a permit, provided:

  • your activity meets the description set out in this RPS
  • you comply with the conditions set out in this RPS
  • your activity doesn’t (and isn’t likely to) cause environmental pollution or harm human health

When to check back

This RPS will be reviewed by September 2017.

You’ll need to check back every time you use the RPS to see whether the statement still applies or if you need to apply for a permit.

Contact the Environment Agency

Contact the Environment Agency if you need help.

General enquiries

National Customer Contact Centre
PO Box 544
Rotherham
S60 1BY

Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

Contents

Document information

Published: 1 February 2016

Updated: 31 May 2017

+ full page history

  1. RPS extended to September 2017.
  2. First published.

From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Environment Agency

Part of: Environmental permits: regulatory position statements Business and the environment Water quality Environmental permits Water