The focus of UK legislation relating to discharges to water is upon the protection of public health, the quality of public drinking water supplies and the quality of the aquatic environment in the controlled waters- these include groundwaters, rivers, lakes and territorial seas.

The legislation is based upon a system of consents whereby industrial companies may discharge their effluents to the sewers, or directly to controlled waters, on the basis that they achieve the consent of the relevant regulatory authority which could be the Environment Agency or the local sewerage undertaker. It is the responsibility of the regulators to set consent limits for specific parameters of the effluent that is discharged. Breaches of these limits may mean that the company may be prosecuted.

The main EU legislation will also be covered here, and you will notice that it is mainly concerned with improving urban wastewater treatment.

The main bulk of the legislation relating to potable water supply involves the companies that supply the water themselves as opposed to domestic and industrial users. Under the Water Industry Act 1991, the consumer does have some legal obligations. This is particularly applicable to those companies abstracting groundwater via boreholes, although there is a requirement that is generally applicable to all company's to conserve water and keep the water supply infrastructure well maintained. Some company's, especially those in the medical or scientific areas, also need to comply with certain water quality standards.