NI unveils package of tougher wastewater pollution measures

(by Karma Loveday)

Northern Ireland’s (NI) minister for agriculture, environment and rural affairs Andrew Muir has set out eight interventions planned to strengthen regulation and enforcement for wastewater pollution.

In a Ministerial Statement in the NI Assembly, he shared the following intentions: 

• Legislating for stronger fines and penalties — “I intend to introduce a Fisheries and Water Environment Bill in May to modernise enforcement powers by increasing the maximum fine for water pollution to £50,000 and introducing the ability to issue fixed penalty notices.”

• Reviewing the sentences that are handed down for environmental crimes — the Department of Justice's planned sentencing review will include environmental offences.

• Withdrawing the NI Environment Agency (NIEA) from the Statement of Regulatory Principles and Intent (SORPI). Muir said: “We need to end the licence to pollute that Northern Ireland Water (NIW) has been granted since its foundation in 2007, in the form of SORPI.” The statement was set in 2007 in recognition that there was a deficit in the inherited wastewater infrastructure that would take time to upgrade over a series of price control periods. “Almost 20 years on, there remains an unacceptable level of wastewater pollution… It is my view that withdrawing from SORPI will deliver regulatory parity, with NIW then being regulated on the same basis as other industries, including agriculture.” 

• Making a special designation for Belfast Lough — designation as a sensitive area under the Urban WasteWater Treatment Regulations (Northern Ireland) will require enhanced treatment for discharges entering the lough.

• Reviewing standards and putting in place new ones for discharge consents — “Those reviews will result in new conditions being included in consents for new parameters that may result in more stringent standards than previously applied. In some cases, the changes may result in refusal to consent to discharge.”

• Improving the monitoring and reporting of NIW’s activities — NIW is already rolling out event duration monitors on storm overflows and pumping stations. Unannounced sampling will also be introduced, and new guidance published on managing wastewater flows. 

• Clarifying the impact of Price Control 21 (PC21) being underfunded — Muir said his department no longer supported the ‘no detriment' principle as a mechanism to enable wastewater capacity for new connections. The NIEA agreed the principle in 2021 an as interim measure for a development in Limavady, subject to PC21 schemes being delivered. But PC21 is now underfunded and Muir said the principle is no longer appropriate.

• Setting up an independent environmental protection agency. The minister said: “It is not right that we are the only part of the UK and Ireland without an independent environmental protection agency. The independent panel set out the case, as part of the Independent Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland report. I am gutted that it has not been permitted to proceed."

Muir concluded his statement: “Some reforms, particularly stronger nutrient discharge standards, will be challenging for stakeholders. I acknowledge that, but we cannot allow the situation in our rivers, lakes and loughs to deteriorate any more. By strengthening the regulatory framework, improving compliance and enforcing it, we can achieve our aim, which is good, clean water.”