The Water Industries Act 2002 requires companies discharging liquid effluent or wastewater to a sewer to obtain a trade effluent discharge consent from the appropriate authority, usually the water company or sewerage undertaker. These bodies are required by law to accept your effluent as long as it conforms to certain standards, and they are allowed to levy a charge appropriate to the service provided.

The MOGDEN Formula

The water company will provide you with an analysis of your discharge, perhaps on a quarterly basis, and this may serve as the basis for deriving the trade effluent charge. The charge for treatment of your effluent will be derived from a modified MOGDEN FORMULA. The parameters that affect the final charge are the total volume flow in that quarter, the average COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) or BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) concentration, and the average suspended solids concentration.

How We Can Reduce Your Trade Effluent Charges

The volume flow of your effluent is the most important factor in determining the bill. However, it is very common for effluent flows not to be measured. In such circumstances the volume of effluent is assumed. Where practical we measure or make a reliable estimate of the flow of effluent that enters the sewer. We map and analyse the flow of water and effluent through your premise and determine whether any cooling water or rainwater that flows to sewer would be sufficiently clean for direct discharge to a ditch.

BOD, COD and SS

Should the BOD or COD concentration or the SS (suspended solids) concentration be a significant component of the bill we make recommendations to ensure that no product or other material enters the effluent stream unnecessarily.

Our water management service manages the entire process; from measuring your effluent, applying for the trade effluent consent and calculating savings through to meeting the inspector on-site to confirm our findings, tracking the amended billing and conducting 6 monthly reviews.