The Groundwater (England and Wales) Regulations 2009

Discharge of a hazardous substance or non-hazardous pollutant

13.—(1) It is an offence to cause or knowingly permit the discharge of any hazardous substance or non-hazardous pollutant in circumstances that might lead to an indirect input of that hazardous substance or non-hazardous pollutant into groundwater unless it is carried on under and in accordance with a permit granted by the Agency under this regulation.

But this does not apply in relation to—

(a) a discharge that requires a discharge consent within the meaning of section 91(8) of the Water Resources Act 1991;

(b) the operation of a regulated facility under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007;

(c) a disposal that requires an authorisation under section 13 of the Radioactive Substances Act 1993; or

(d) the keeping or use of mobile radioactive apparatus that requires a registration under section 10 of that Act.

(2) An operator of a highway drain (or, until 1st January 2012, a person using a domestic septic tank or sewage treatment plant with a daily discharge of less than 2m³) does not commit an offence under this regulation unless the Agency has served a notice on that person under regulation 18 in relation to that discharge, and the operator has failed to comply with that notice.

(3) In this regulation “highway drain” means a drain which a highway authority or other person is entitled to keep open by virtue of section 100 of the Highways Act 1980(1).

(1)

1980 c. 66.