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The entry into force of the new provisions regarding the monitoring of hazardous substance discharges into water (RSDE) is set for January 1, 2018. No fewer than 22 ministerial decrees applicable to ICPE facilities have been amended, notably establishing new emission limit values (ELVs) and strengthening monitoring obligations. Implementing these new requirements will undoubtedly be a major challenge for the affected ICPE sites in the coming years.
In 2018, the national program for the Reduction of Hazardous Substance discharges into Water (RSDE) will enter a new phase. All ICPE activities subject to registration or authorization that are likely to discharge such substances will be subject to new obligations consolidated in an RSDE decree, published in the Official Journal on October 6, 2017. The government intends to continue and generalize the reduction efforts initiated under the RSDE 1 campaigns, and especially the RSDE 2 campaigns since 2009.
What is the RSDE program?
The RSDE program is part of the implementation of the 2000 Water Framework Directive (WFD), which aims to improve the quality of the aquatic environment, particularly through the progressive reduction of hazardous substance emissions.
The first national research and reduction initiative for hazardous substances in water, known as "RSDE 1," deployed between 2002 and 2007, made it possible to analyze discharges from over 2,800 industrial sites and develop lists of relevant substances by business sector. By its conclusion, more than a hundred substances had been inventoried, primarily belonging to the families of metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene derivatives (BTEX), alkylphenols, halogenated volatile organic compounds (HVOCs), and bromodiphenyl ethers (BDEs).
In 2009, a second national initiative was launched, known as "RSDE 2." During an initial monitoring phase, operators were required to conduct analysis campaigns consisting of six monthly measurements focusing on substances likely to be present in their facility's effluent due to the nature of their activities. Subsequently, hazardous substances discharged in significant quantities or posing compatibility issues with the receiving water body were required to undergo long-term monitoring and/or discharge reduction actions validated through a technical and economic study.
All of these actions were prescribed to the relevant operators through individual prefectural decrees. Based on the data collected and the feedback from the RSDE 2 initiative, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition established a new regulatory framework, effective from 2018, applicable nationwide to govern the discharge of hazardous substances into water from ICPE facilities subject to authorization and registration. This is the purpose of the RSDE decree, which amends 22 ministerial decrees, namely the "integrated" decree of February 2, 1998[1], and 21 sectoral decrees concerning, in particular, surface treatment and coating activities, paper mills, glassworks, flammable liquid storage, combustion installations, the agri-food sector, and waste treatmentactivities.
What are the changes introduced by this new RSDE ministerial order?
With this RSDE order, the government is pursuing the following main objectives:
- Updating the provisions of ICPE ministerial orders deemed obsolete or inconsistent with new European and national goals for reducing micropollutant discharges into water;
- Extending the effort to reduce hazardous substance emissions in water to all sites subject to authorization and registration regimes that discharge a certain volume of pollutants;
- Introducing monitoring for new hazardous substances and proposing appropriate ELVs, in line with the results of the RSDE 2 campaign and references to the Best Available Techniques (BAT) defined under the IED directive;
- Ending the ongoing RSDE monitoring and establishing a definitive common framework for the permanent monitoring of hazardous substance emissions from ICPE.
Extension of RSDE regulations
The main change resulting from the adoption of the order is the extension of RSDE regulations to all classified installations subject to authorization and registration that are likely to have significant discharges of hazardous substances.
Simplification and clarification of regulations
The concept of "mixing zones," defined as areas adjacent to discharge points, is introduced. Within these mixing zones, concentrations of one or more hazardous substances may exceed environmental quality standards, provided that compliance with these standards in the rest of the water body is not compromised.
The goal of "phasing out" priority hazardous substances (21 substances to be phased out by 2021) has been clarified: it is now defined as achieving the maximum possible reduction in discharge levels at an economically acceptable cost. When the discharge environment is the same as the intake environment, the operator is exempt from reduction actions if they can demonstrate that the priority hazardous substance is present upstream of the site and is unrelated to the industrial facility's activities.
ELVs are less stringent for facilities connected to an industrial (ICPE heading 2750) or mixed (ICPE heading 2752) wastewater treatment plant than for direct discharge into the natural environment (depending on the treatment plant's purification capacity). In the case of connection to a collective urban wastewater treatment plant, however, the limit values are the same as for a site with direct discharge into the natural environment, due to uncertainties regarding the treatment of hazardous substances.
Newly covered substances
New substances are now covered by the new framework, primarily biocides and phytosanitary products.
New emission limit values
New emission limit values (ELVs) have been set based on the results of the RSDE 2 campaign. For substances infrequently quantified during initial monitoring, ELVs are set uniformly across all sectors. For substances quantified more frequently that represent significant cumulative flows, sector-specific ELVs have been established. The Ministry's stated objective is to set ELVs tailored to each sector to ensure they are achievable.
Emission monitoring
The "long-term monitoring" measures prescribed under the RSDE 2 action have been discontinued. Nationally established monitoring procedures now replace the provisions previously set by prefectural decree.
In practical terms, operators must implement a self-monitoring program for emissions of any hazardous substance for which the authorized discharge flow exceeds the thresholds requiring concentration-based ELVs. However, no new initial analysis campaigns are required for substances newly introduced by the decree that were not covered by the RSDE 2 action.
Furthermore, sampling and analysis requirements are now more strictly regulated to ensure the reliability of measurement results. These operations must be carried out in accordance with an INERIS guide currently being adopted.
Finally, at least once a year, measurements must be performed by an approved body on a sample collected under accreditation by an organization accredited to the NF EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard. The analytical laboratory and the intervention procedures must be selected in agreement with the inspectorate for classified installations.
The new provisions regarding the monitoring of hazardous substance discharges into water will come into effect on January 1, 2018. However, except in specific cases, the other provisions of the RSDE decree—notably the ELVs—will apply from January 1, 2020, for existing installations.
[1] Decree of February 2, 1998, relating to water withdrawal and consumption, as well as emissions of all kinds from classified installations for environmental protection subject to authorization.