Water emission monitoring program: building and implementing it effectively

The RSDE framework governs the monitoring of hazardous substances and micropollutants in water. What obligations must be met to ensure compliance and anticipate inspections?

Monique Argaud
Consultante HSE
Publication : 
08.09.2022
Table of Contents
Example H2
Request a demo

Please note: This article concerns French legislation. The requirements described may not apply in other countries.

‍

A closer look at a topic that is even more relevant today, given the drought episodes we are experiencing.

A water discharge monitoring program enables the tracking of macropollutants (a group of substances including suspended solids, organic matter, and nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus) and hazardous substances or micropollutants (a substance or group of substances that are toxic, persistent, and bioaccumulative, and other substances or groups of substances that are considered, to an equivalent degree, to be of concern).

The development and implementation of a water discharge monitoring program require consideration of various regulatory obligations, the nature of which depends on the administrative status of the site, the origin of the discharges (wastewater or rainwater), the characteristics of its water discharges, the treatment and discharge methods implemented, its geographical location, and local environmental conditions.

Obligations arising from ICPE regulations

These regulations are structured around ministerial decrees governing the site's installations (IED subject to authorization, registration, or declaration) and, where applicable, its prefectural order (AP).

These obligations were significantly amended by the RSDE decree of August 24, 2017 with the new hazardous substance monitoring procedures coming into force on January 1,st 2018.

The rules to be observed for compliance with these obligations, detailed in two guides published by the Ministry of Environment in 2018, include the following:

  • Monitoring of hazardous substances generally includes substances specific to the sector of activity, other global parameters, and other hazardous substances used in the classification of water body status, including other specific pollutants affecting ecological status that cause a local impact (see Table 44 of Annex 3 of the decree of January 25, 2010, for applicable EQS for the latter). For authorized activities covered by Article 33 of the decree of February 2, 1998 (chemistry, metal production or processing, etc.), the ELVs for substances characteristic of industrial activities set out in Article 32-3 are replaced by those listed in the specific section dedicated to the sector of activity. Discharges of substances not mentioned in Article 33 must be regulated as in the general case, according to the ELVs set out in Article 32-3.
  • If an ELV is also prescribed by a prefectural order, discharge levels must not exceed the more stringent of the two.
  • When a site conducts several activities covered by multiple ministerial decrees with different ELVs, the most restrictive ELV must be applied at the site's outlet.
  • A ministerial decree may require monitoring at the installation outlet rather than the site outlet, such as the decree of December 14, 2013, applicable to installations subject to registration under heading 2921, the decree of August 3, 2018, applicable to installations registered under heading 2910, etc.
  • When the operator subcontracts its monitoring program, it must ensure that the quantification limits (QL, the value below which it is difficult to quantify a substance with acceptable uncertainty) for "parameter-matrix" pairs are less than or equal to 30% of the applicable ELVs. If complying with 30% of the emission limit value results in a QL to be achieved that is lower than the regulatory QL (opinion of September 19, 2019), the regulatory QL remains the reference. This criterion allows for declaring the discharge compliant/non-compliant by taking measurement uncertainty into account.
  • Engage an accredited sampling laboratory for subcontracting the monitoring program and for carrying out controls (initial calibration, external recalibration, unannounced), and an approved analysis laboratory for controls, and an accredited laboratory for subcontracting the monitoring program. A regulatory easing comes into effect on July 1st , 2023, as the annual recalibration control focusing solely on analysis becomes a biennial recalibration control and is subject to at least one annual measurement being present in the monitoring program. Furthermore, this recalibration control is no longer mandatory if the operator's emission monitoring is already carried out by an approved laboratory (sampling and analysis).
  • For intermittent or discontinuous discharges, spot sampling directly from the batch tank or basin is not appropriate. Sampling must be carried out either automatically, proportional to the operating time of the drainage pump or the opening of the discharge valve, or on a spot basis if the outlet does not allow for the installation of an automatic sampler or if the drainage time is short (30 minutes to 3 hours). In all cases, if the drainage time exceeds 1 hour, a minimum of five samples must be taken per hour.
  • A sampler used for monitoring macropollutants is not suitable for monitoring hazardous substances, which requires a Teflon suction tube and a glass collection bottle.
  • For pollutants not subject to any reference method in the opinion of February 22, 2022, the chosen procedure, particularly for sampling, allows for a statistical representation of the parameter's evolution.
  • Particular attention must be paid when assessing discharge compliance. Thus, unless otherwise specified, in the case of continuous self-monitoring (at least one representative measurement per day) and 24-hour sampling, the site is compliant if 90% of the monthly values are below the ELV and none of the values exceed twice the ELV. Furthermore, if instantaneous samples are taken, no measurement result should exceed twice the ELV. In the case of non-continuous self-monitoring, 24-hour samples are declared compliant when 100% of the results are below the ELVs.
  • If the discharge occurs into the same environment as the sampling environment, the compliance of the discharge with emission limit values can be assessed by considering the net concentration resulting from the industrial facility's activity. The sampling environment and the discharge environment are considered different, particularly when a site draws water from a groundwater table and discharges into surface water, or when a site draws water from the city network and discharges into a river.

Obligations arising from regulations concerning the determination of the non-domestic water pollution fee collected by water agencies

In this regard, a site is subject to implementing regular discharge monitoring (SRR) as soon as, for at least one of the constituent elements of pollution, the theoretical pollution level reaches or exceeds the value mentioned in Article R.213-48-6 of the Environmental Code: 600 t/year of TSS or COD, 300 t/year of BOD5, 40 t/year of TKN, 10 t/year of Total Phosphorus, 10,000 kEquitox/year of inhibitory substances, 10,000 kg/year of Metox, 2,000 kg/year of adsorbable organic halogens (AOX), 100,000 m3*S/cm/year of dissolved salts, or 360 kg/year of HSW (Hazardous Substances in Water).

As part of an SRR, the monitoring program requires the collection of a 24-hour sample for the daily analysis of a constituent element of pollution, representative of the facility's activity. For other constituent elements of pollution not subject to daily analysis and whose theoretical pollution level exceeds the SRR thresholds, the monitoring program is set by a ministerial decree.

For constituent elements of pollution whose theoretical pollution level is below the SRR threshold, the facility performs an analysis of a daily average sample each month, with the exception of acute toxicity analysis performed quarterly and HSW analysis performed once a year.

HSW, comprising sixteen substances (cf. Article R. 213-48-3 of the Environmental Code), may benefit from specific arrangements if it is demonstrated, based on measurement results representative of the facility's polluting activity, that the analytical concentrations of one or more substances comprising the parameter are below the QL. These substances, in agreement with the Water Agency, are excluded from the SRR for five years. At the end of this period, a determination of all substances comprising the HSW pollution constituent is carried out to adjust the monitoring program, if necessary.

The SRR must be approved by the water agency. An operational diagnostic of the SRR is carried out at least once every two years by an authorized body.

For a site not subject to SRR, the water pollution fee is determined based on a measurement campaign conducted on discharges by a body approved by the water authority before the implementation of a depollution system.

Obligations arising from connection permit regulations

Any discharge of non-domestic wastewater into the public collection network must first be authorized by the mayor or the sanitation authority (e.g., a community of municipalities or a private company in the case of delegated management). This authorization specifies the characteristics the wastewater must meet for discharge and the monitoring program. The results of the monitoring program are submitted to the sanitation system's project owner, independently of the obligation to transmit them to the inspection authority. Thanks to the GIDAF application, the local authority can, via reader access codes provided by the operator, retrieve the monthly declaration of the ICPE.

Mastering the water emission monitoring program, which integrates all regulatory obligations presented in this article, should enable any facility operator to confidently address future water-related challenges, such as:

  • The need to reuse treated wastewater
  • For priority hazardous substances covered by Directive 2013/39/EU (Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds including certain PCDD, PCDF and PCB-TD, PFOS, HBCDD, Heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide, Dicofol, Quinoxyfen, Trifluralin, DEHP), compliance with ELVs by January 1, 2023, and their elimination* by 2033
  • For priority substances covered by Directive 2013/39/EU (Dichlorvos, Terbutryn, Aclonifen, Bifenox, Cybutryne, and Cypermethrin), compliance with ELVs by January 1, 2023, and their progressive reduction by 2033
  • The elimination by 2028 of the priority hazardous substances anthracene and endosulfan

*for a site, the elimination of substances should be understood as a maximum reduction at an acceptable cost when the reduction solution is technically feasible to implement, depending on local characteristics (location, geography, space, etc.).

NOTE: for other priority substances (trichloromethane, nickel and compounds, lead and compounds, dichloromethane, octylphenols...) / priority hazardous substances (nonylphenols, mercury and compounds, cadmium and compounds...), their reduction/elimination must have been effective since 2021, in accordance with the decree of July 8, 2010.

Photo credit: 277318406 @settapong