Discharge of waste water into private sewage treatment plants Permit

Would you like to discharge wastewater into a private sewage plant? Then an application for approval must be submitted to the competent authority of the respective federal state.

For the discharge of waste water (industrial wastewater, commercial wastewater) into a private wastewater plant (indirect discharge), a permit is required in Germany, insofar as the Wastewater Ordinance lays down requirements for the waste water for the place of origin or before its mixing. Authorisation shall be granted by the competent authorities.

For the sectors and activities (such as chemical industry, paper production, metal processing, cooling water use) in which pollutants are to be expected in wastewater that are not sufficiently purified in a municipal sewage treatment plant, the legislator has laid down requirements in the industry-specific annexes of the Wastewater Ordinance.

In order to comply with these requirements, special measures and wastewater pretreatment plants are required to reduce the pollutant load so that the wastewater can then be treated harmlessly in a private sewage treatment plant.

The competent authority is determined by Land law regulations of the individual federal states.

The required documentation depends on the waste water (industrial wastewater, commercial wastewater) to be discharged into the private wastewater plant.

The designation and execution of the individual forms, if any, is different in the individual registration authorities. In general terms, there are application forms, checklists and leaflets as declarations or forms.

• If applicable, links to the aforementioned forms: specific federal state
• Online procedure possible: specific federal state
• Written form required: State specific
• Personal appearance required: specific federal state

Authorisation may be granted (discretion) if:

• the requirements applicable to discharge according to the Waste Water Ordinance in its currently valid version, including the general requirements (general requirements, requirements for the place of occurrence and before mixing)
• compliance with direct discharge requirements is not jeopardised; and
• sewage treatment plants or other facilities are constructed and operated which are necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements under numbers 1 and 2, § 57 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 WHG
• there is no impairment of the public interest and no infringement of the rights of third parties

An objection may be lodged against the decision granting or not granting the permit within one month of notification (Section 68 of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure).

The application must be submitted at an early stage, as wastewater may only be discharged into a private sewage treatment plant with a granted permit.

The processing time depends on the quality and scope of the submitted applications and documents.

Administrative costs are payable to the competent authority for the administrative service.

The amount of the administrative costs depends on the respective provisions of state law on administrative costs.