Licensing a Major Industrial Discharge to Coastal Waters: The Practical Application of the EQO/EQS Approach

The Environmental Quality Objective/Environmental Quality Standard approach to controlling pollution of Britain's well mixed and highly dispersive coastal waters has been adopted by Government. The task of the regulatory authority in relating discharge conditions to the capacity of the receiving waters is theoretically a logical sequence of scientific calculations. In practice a whole range of influences is brought to bear on the decision-making process. This paper describes how the Clyde River Purification Board and a major chemical manufacturing company (ICI) arrived at consent conditions for the discharge of an effluent containing copper to Irvine Bay, in the Firth of Clyde, an area of major importance as a fishery. The technical arguments advanced during negotiations are detailed and the areas of major disagreement such as the definition of a mixing zone are discussed. Account is taken of the uses to which the Bay is put and the effect of other discharges on background levels. Measures taken to ensure demonstrable compliance with the agreed consent conditions are described as are biological monitoring methods under development to assess the long term acceptability of the discharge.