Everything you need to know about Section 82 of the EA 21
Section 82 of the 2021 Environment Act sets out requirements for the monitoring of water quality upstream and downstream of effluent outflows in Englands rivers.
Section 82 At a Glance
Parameters required for monitoring are:
pH
Temperature
Turbidity
Dissolved Oxygen
Ammonia (measured via ammonium-pH-temperature method)
*Correct as of August 2024; there is still scope for other parameters to be added at the discretion of the Secretary of State.
Additional Parameters:
- Electrical Conductivity
- Two additional parameter spaces to future-proof the instruments. This states each instrument must have the capacity to add two new sensors and/or parameters without the need to re-design or re-install the current instrument.
This has not been classed as “mandatory” but is recommended for inclusion owing to its likely use in the future for data validation.
The timeline:
- The onus is on sewerage undertakers to install continuous monitoring upstream & downstream of sewage outflows into rivers and streams.
- Data can be provided either every 15 mins in "high-risk" times and hourly at every other time.
- Downstream monitors must be placed <500m from the mixing point (I.e. where the effluent meets the river channel).
- Multiple outlets can be clustered to a single monitoring station if they are within 250m of each other.
- Roll out of monitoring to begin no later than 2025, with full asset monitoring achieved by 2035, starting with high priority sites.
- High priority sites include SSSIs, SACs, areas of urban wastewater treatment regulations sensitive areas, chalk streams, waters where storm overflows and/or final effluent is causing them to fail WFD ecological standards and any asset within 5km upstream of designated inland or estuarine bathing waters.
- Water quality data should be made publicly available within one hour of measurement taken, with EDM data overlaid, to provide context to measurements.
Author: Hannah Gunter
27th Jan 2025