The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has prepared Guidance on the Authorisation of Direct Discharges to Groundwater. This proposed guidance addresses direct discharges to groundwater from point sources that may have the potential to cause pollution. It supplements the earlier report published by the EPA entitled “Guidance on the Authorisation of Discharges to Groundwater” (EPA, 2011) which focused on the technical assessment of indirect discharges to groundwater.
This Guidance has the following primary objectives:
- Present an overview of the Groundwater Regulations with respect to direct discharges to groundwater (Section 2).
- Provide specific examples of different types of direct discharges (Section 3)
- Describe conditions under which direct discharges of domestic-type wastewater effluents may be considered in the absence of suitable or feasible alternatives (Section 4).
Whereas the first two objectives deal with direct discharges in a general sense, the last objective examines direct discharges of domestic-type wastewater effluent in greater detail.
The EPA would welcome your feedback and observations by Monday 10th February, 2014.
