On how many occasions over the last 5 years have licences been issued by Planning and Environment to the Transport and Technical Services Department in respect of discharging effluent into controlled waters

1240/5(4422)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT BY DEPUTY P.V.F. LE CLAIRE OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 28TH APRIL 2009

Question

"On how many occasions, if any, over the last 5 years have licences been issued by the Planning and Environment Department to the Transport and Technical Services Department in respect of discharging effluent into controlled waters?

1. W o uld the Minister advisetheexact dates and time periods whensuchdischarges o cc u r red?
2. W ere discharges ofeffluentpermittedunderthelicensesat times when the tide was below the St. Aubin Pier outflow?
3. W h atwastheestimatedvolumeof effluent discharged oneachoccasion?
4. D u ring discharges ofeffluenton these occasionswhatmonitoring, if any, occurred; bywhomwas this undertaken and whatwerethe results?
5. W h ere did this monitoringoccurandcanthe Minister provide theseasanappendix?
6. W hat, if any, are the long termplans for managing this on-going series of discharges of e ff l u ent into ourenvironment?
7. I s the Minister aware of any scientific evidence that discharges of effluent can harm the environment and/or beof a dangerto human health?
8. W h at notifications, if any, are requiredwhendischarging effluent into a Ramsar site or next to one?
9. W h at tests, if any, are undertaken toensure there is noimpacton the Ramsar e n v ir onment,who conducts the tests andwho certifies them?

Answer

Only one licence has been issue to TTS during the last five years. This was a composite discharge permit (No. DP(B) 2007/04/02) for the following pumping stations: Bas Du Marrais, La Frontiere, La Rue Du Port, Le Douet, Les Augerez, Les Fontaines, Les Ormes, Portinfer, and Thistlegrove.

Sections (a) – (i) of the Deputy 's question are not applicable to that particular discharge permit, however they do relate to a different permit issued to TTS in respect of the Bellozanne Sewage Treatment Works. This permit was first issued in 2000 when the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000 came into force. When applied to this permit, the answers are as follows:

1. T h e sewage treatment works discharges effluent 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
2. Y e s.Thesewagetreatmentworks discharge effluent24hours a days,365 days a year, regardless of tide levels.
3. T h e maximum permitted volumeof discharge shall not exceed 95,040 m3 / day. The rateofdischarge shall not exceed 1100l/s.

4. T h e permitholder (TTS) carryout their ownsampling and testing for operationalpurposes. In our role as regulator thePlanningandEnvironment department take regular samples and this is prescribed under the conditions ofthe discharge permit. Independent of this dischargepermitwe also conduct bathing water sampling throughout the bathing water season atVictoriaPool and LaHauleandhaveundertaken a monitoring programmeof surface water outfalls whichincludedFirst Tower Outfall. The results are available onpublic record and are too numerous (there are over 10 years of bathing water data alone) to include in an appendix to this response. We would howeverbehappyto discuss these results in a meeting with the Deputy .
5. F o r the purposes ofthe Discharge Permit, samples are collected from the UltraViolettreatment plant prior to discharge into the Bellozanne culvert / stream. General samples are collected from the out fall and receiving waters respectively.
6. T h e long termplansformanagingsewage treatment on the island willbedealt with by the Liquid Waste strategy from TTS. The regulator will continue to monitor the discharge in accordance with the discharge permit as described above.
7. Y e s. Thereis considerable scientific evidence that discharges of "effluents" can be harmful to both environment and human health. This ishoweverdependenton the specific composition of the effluent whichis regulated by the consent conditions.
8. N o specific notifications are required unless there isgoing to be a significant impacton the ecology of the site.
9. T h e programmeof general monitoringcarriedoutby Planning and Environmentincludesmonitoringon bathing waters, shellfish, heavymetals in key indicator species,and outfall monitoring to sea. These samples are collected by Planning and Environment, they are analysedby the States Official Analyst and assessed internally in respect of the use towhich they will be put. e.g.Bathing Water quality and grading of shellfish.

L o n g term changes to the ecology of the Ramsar site will be picked up by the periodic survey of the site's

ecology which the Department commission from time to time. The most recent survey was carried out by Plymouth Marine Laboratories in March 2009 and the results are still being collated.