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Top tips for reducing your wastewater

Reducing water consumption will reduce your effluent generation. So, water saving initiatives will have the added benefit of reducing your effluent bill.
Accurate metering can help to reduce water bills, especially at sites with more than one trade effluent discharge consent. If a site’s total effluent discharge volume is estimated across a number of discharges, then a higher volume maybe applied to a higher strength discharge resulting in disproportionate charging.
Mixing a higher strength discharge with a lower strength discharge can help to reduce the cost.
Evaluating whether an effluent stream from one process can be re-used as an input to another process will help to reduce the effluent volume discharged from a site.
Treating effluents prior to discharge can help to reduce costs. For example, simple physical or chemical treatment of an effluent stream prior to discharge to sewer will lower the cost incurred for further treatment by the water company.
Treating a higher strength effluent can help to recover a raw material for re-use which would otherwise have been disposed of.
Remember, any effluents whose composition or volume is suspected to breach the consent could result in prosecution.
To discharge trade effluent to a public sewer, your company needs to possess a current and valid discharge consent from the wastewater operator. Check that your discharge consent is current and valid for your effluents.
To discharge wastewater to the water environment, your company needs to possess an authorisation from the environmental regulator. Please be aware that environmental legislation is diferent in each country in the UK, so please visit the Netregs website for the latest information on compliance with current water related environmental legislation and how to contact your local regulator.

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Top tips for reducing your wastewater

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