The Waste Management Licensing (England and Wales)(Amendment and Related Provisions)(No. 2) Regulations 2005

Storage and spreading of sludge

11.  For paragraph 8 of Schedule 3 substitute—

“8A.— (1) The treatment with sludge of land which is not agricultural land within the meaning of the 1989 Regulations if—

(a) it results in ecological improvement, or in the case of the treatment of land used for non-food crops not grown in short term rotation with food crops, it results in benefit to agriculture;

(b) it does not cause the concentration in the soil of any of the elements listed in column 1 of the soil table set out in Schedule 2 to the 1989 Regulations to exceed the limit specified in column 2 of the table; and

(c) no more 250 tonnes of sludge per hectare is used on the land in any period of twelve months.

(2) The storage in a secure container or lagoon (or, in the case of dewatered sludge, in a secure place) of sludge intended to be used for land treatment in reliance upon the exemption conferred by sub-paragraph (1) if—

(a) the sludge is stored at the place where it is to be used;

(b) no sludge is stored at a distance less than—

(i) 10 metres from any watercourse;

(ii) 50 metres from any spring or well, or from any borehole not used to supply water for domestic or food production purposes;

(iii) 250 metres from any borehole used to supply water for domestic or food production purposes;

(c) no sludge is stored within a zone defined by a 50 day travel time for groundwater to reach a groundwater source used to supply water for domestic or food production purposes;

(d) no sludge is stored within 0.3 metres of the top of an open storage container or within 0.75 metres of the top of an earthbank tank or lagoon;

(e) no sludge is stored for a period of more than twelve months; and

(f) no more than 1,250 tonnes of sludge is stored at any one time.

(4) In this paragraph and paragraph 8B below—

(a) “the 1989 Regulations” means the Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations 1989(1); and

(b) “sludge” (in relation to sewage) has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the 1989 Regulations.

8B.   The storage in a secure container or lagoon (or, in the case of dewatered sludge, in a secure place) of sludge which is to be used in accordance with the 1989 Regulations if—

(a) the sludge is stored at the place where it is to be used;

(b) no sludge is stored at a distance less than—

(i) 10 metres from any watercourse;

(ii) 50 metres from any spring or well, or from any borehole not used to supply water for domestic or food production purposes;

(iii) 250 metres from any borehole used to supply water for domestic or food production purposes;

(c) no sludge is stored within a zone defined by a 50 day travel time for groundwater to reach a groundwater source used to supply water for domestic or food production purposes;

(d) no sludge is stored within 0.3 metres of the top of an open storage container or within 0.75 metres of the top of an earthbank tank or lagoon;

(e) no sludge is stored for a period of more than twelve months; and

(f) no more than 1,250 tonnes of sludge is stored at any one time.”.

(1)

S.I. 1989/1263, amended by S.I. 1990/880.