Control of certain discharges of effluent
1River purification authority's consent for certain discharges of effluent
(1)
Subject to this Act, it shall be unlawful on and after the date appointed under this section to make a discharge of trade or sewage effluent to a stream, being a discharge which is not controlled under section 28 of the principal Act, without the consent under this Act of the river purification authority.
(2)
An application to the river purification authority for their consent under this Act shall state—
(a)
the nature and composition of the effluent in respect of which the application is made,
(b)
the maximum temperature of the effluent at the time when it is to be discharged,
(c)
the maximum volume of the effluent which it is proposed to discharge on any one day, and
(d)
the highest rate at which it is proposed to discharge the effluent.
(3)
On an application for consent under subsection (1) of this section the river purification authority may grant their consent subject to such conditions as they may think fit, being conditions—
(a)
as to the nature and composition, temperature, volume or rate of discharge of effluent from the land or premises to which the application relates, and
(b)
as to the provision of facilities for taking samples of what is passing from the land or premises to the stream, and in particular as to the provision and maintenance of inspection chambers or manholes,
and any such conditions may be framed so as to have effect for a specified period, or for a period beginning or ending with a specified date.
(4)
Where a river purification authority refuse their consent to an application, or where they grant their consent subject to conditions, under this Act or section 28 of the principal Act, the authority shall communicate in writing their decision and the reasons therefor to the applicant.
(5)
Subject to this Act, where on or after the date appointed under this section a discharge of trade or sewage effluent, being a discharge which is not controlled under section 28 of the principal Act, is made to a stream without the consent under this Act of the river purification authority, the river purification authority may give to the person making the discharge a notice imposing for the reasons stated therein any such conditions as they might have imposed on an application for their consent for making the discharge.
(6)
No conditions imposed under this section shall take effect until the expiration of a period of three months beginning with the giving of the consent, or, as the case may be, the giving of the notice under subsection (5) of this section, and if before the expiration of the said period of three months an applicant for consent under this section or, as the case may be, a person on whom a notice has been served under this section has appealed under this Act to the Secretary of State, no conditions imposed under this section shall take effect until the appeal is withdrawn or disposed of.
(7)
No person shall cause or knowingly permit to enter a stream from land or premises, in relation to which conditions have been imposed under this Act and are for the time being in force, a trade or sewage effluent not complying with these conditions.
(8)
Section 23 of the principal Act shall apply in relation to the last foregoing subsection as it applies in relation to section 22(1) of that Act.
(9)
For the purposes of this section a discharge which is not controlled under section 28 of the principal Act means a discharge of effluent in relation to which a river purification authority have no power to impose conditions of the kinds described in subsection (2)(b) of that section, that is to say, conditions imposed as respects the making of a new discharge as denned in that section, with or without consent.
(10)
The date appointed under this section shall be such date as the Secretary of State may by order appoint, being a date not less than fourteen months after the passing of this Act, but applications for consent under this section may be made before that date and where consent is granted before that date subject to conditions, those conditions may, subject to subsection (6) of this section, take effect before that date.