Guidance

This section contains the regulatory methods and guidance used by SEPA for its regulatory duties in the water environment. It also contains position statements, which set out our approach to particular issues that may arise during our regulatory process.

Please note that the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) Regulations 2011 came into force on 31st March 2011 replacing the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) Regulations 2005 (CAR 2005). All relevant guidance on the website will be updated in due course but in the meantime, please be aware that some documents will still contain references to CAR 2005.

If you want to speak to a member of staff regarding a particular document, quoting the reference number at the beginning of the title ('WAT-RM-03' for example) will make the process easier.

Local SEPA office

To find out more about general and regime-specific guidance :

All regimes
Abstraction and impoundment
Engineering
Pollution control
Pollution Prevention Guidelines (PPGs)