The Scottish Government

The issue of odour from Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) is an important one in several communities in Scotland and has involved petitions to the Scottish Parliament.

The issue is linked to the UK, including Scotland, having to implement two EC Directives. The EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) which set a deadline of 31.12.00 for secondary treatment to be in place before water is discharged from towns of more than 15,000 inhabitants and the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) whose objective is to reach good quality of water resources by 2015 by moving towards sustainable integrated water management in Europe.

For some years, local authorities in the UK considered that abatement notices could be issued against water companies in respect of odour from their waste water treatment works.

There has been some doubt in recent years as to the applicability of the statutory nuisance regime in Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ("the 1990 Act") to waste water treatment works. However the position appears to have been clarified by a recent English case, (London Borough of Hounslow v Thames Water Utilities Limited) in which it was decided that sewage treatment works were "premises" within the meaning of section 79(1) (d) of the 1990 Act. This is persuasive authority in Scotland for the view that odour from waste water treatment works could constitute a statutory nuisance. This would allow local authorities to use the powers under the statutory nuisance regime to tackle this problem. A letter sent to all Local Authorities on May 27 2004 explains the position further, including the resulting appeal by Thames Water on the above case, which was finally withdrawn in April 2004.

On April 29 2005 the Scottish Executive announced the publication of a voluntary code of practice to minimise odours from waste water treatment works. This document was produced in conjunction with Scottish Water, Industry Regulators and Enforcement Agencies.

The Water Services etc (Scotland) Act 2005 gave Scottish Executive Ministers new statutory powers to underpin codes of practice on nuisance control from sewerage works. The Executive has formed a Scottish Odour Steering Group(SOSG), comprising representatives from Scottish Water, Local Authorities, WaterWatch, SEPA, the Water Industry Commission (WIC) and Scottish Executive.

The code was published on April 21 2006 and can be accessed at: http:sss.scotland.gov.uk/112302.

The Scottish Executive has also decided odour minimisation will be a priority in Scottish Water's Quality & Standards 3 Capital Investment Programme for 2006-14, with a stated essential outcome of minimising odour at the 35 worst offending sites. The list, role of SOSG and subsitution process are as follows:

The Quality & Standards 3 Essential Requirement -List of the 35 worst odour nuisance offending Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) as determined by the Scottish Odour Steering Group.

List in alphabetical local authority area

Q&S3 Requirement

The requirement to produce a list of 35 WWTWs stems from a Ministerial essential objective within the Quality & Standards 3(Q&S3) investment process announced to the Scottish Parliament on February 9 2005. The objective is to minimise odour at 14 sites in period 2006-10 and 21 sites in period 2010-14, taking account of the principle of best practicable means. Additional funding for this purpose, totalling £42m, was determined by the Water Industry Commission in December 2005, based on bids from Scottish Water.

SOSG's Remit

The remit of SOSG is to :

· oversee the production of the Statutory Code of Practice;

· act on behalf of and report to the Q&S3 Capital Monitoring Group on odour issues;

· identify and prioritise the list of Q&S3 35 worst offending sites;

· oversee and sign-off the agreed odour abatement when completed at the 35 sites

How was the list of 35 identified and prioritised?

The list was established and prioritised by SOSG from the 102 known odour problem WWTWs in Scotland and based on the volume and severity of complaints received by all impacted agencies; ie; Scottish Water, local authorities and WaterWatch. The list is currently being evaluated by consultants commisssioned by Scottish Water and the Executive to determine the opimum odour resolution for each works, before reporting to SOSG in May 2006.

Are PFI operated sites included?

No. The WIC determined PFI operated sites will not have their odour problems financed by the QS3 Capital Programme. It is a matter for Scottish Water and the PFI operators to fund odour resolutions at these works.

Responding to changes in circumstances

Should there be changes in circumstances which require a change to the list of WWTWs to be included, SOSG will consider these and if necessary initiate a change in the list of sites using the substitution procedures established by the Q&S3 Capital Monitoring Group. SOSG will review the list on a regular basis, based on the level of complaints received by its members.

Update

The Deputy ERAD Minister Rhona Brankin provided an update to the Scottish Parliament's Environment and Rural Development Committee on December 8 2005.

At the SOSG11 meeting on July 11 2006, the committee received presentations on odour abatement evaluations on the top 35 WWTWs and subsequently agreed the first 14 WWTWs to receive priority capital funding from the Quality & Standards III programme for the initial period from 2006-10. The decision was based on severity of odour problems and volume of complaints, within the constraints of the feasibility of odour abatement options within a finite budget of £14.4m.

The list has been referred to Scottish Water Solutions who will undergo further feasibility studies to prioritise the work programme. SOSG will continue to monitor the progress to include eventual sign-off of completed work with the relevant local authority. List of Top 14 WWTWs are :