Online Registration Help

Environmental Service: means the carrying out, operation or maintenance of any activity which is, in the view of SEPA, solely for the benefit of the environment, not being for commercial purposes or in implementation of a statutory duty.
Further guidance on what activities SEPA consider qualify for Environmental Service is available in Annex 1 of guidance to the charging scheme.

Percolation Value (Vp): The percolation value indicates the rate of drainage through the soil in seconds and is used as a measure of the suitability of land for soakaway. A low Vp value indicates good suitability, whereas a high Vp value (usually greater then 140 s) means the land is generally not suited to soakaway.

Population Equivalent (p.e.): The unit of measure used to describe the size of a waste water discharge. For domestic housing, a minimum of 5 p.e. is used for any house with up to and including three bedrooms. For houses with more than three bedrooms, add 1 p.e. for each additional bedroom. This means that the minimum of 5 p.e. applies for any house with 3 bedrooms or less, regardless of how many people may actually be living in the house.
For non-domestic sewage effluent, population equivalent is calculated by multiplying the number of people using the system by the BOD load (g per person per day) for the relevant discharge type and dividing by 60 (60 g is the average BOD load for one person in one day).
Full details on how to calculate p.e., along with information on BOD loading, are in the Code of Practice document Flows and Loads – latest version available on the British Water website.

Treatment System: Any discharge that is treated is considered to use a treatment system. This treatment system can be a single component, for example a septic tank, or a combination of components, such as septic tank plus reed bed. You must declare all of the treatment system components on the form.