1. Obtaining Technical Approval

Technical Approval on compliance with wastewater quality standards is necessary for business entities who will discharge their wastewater into the environment (to surface water, land, etc). This Technical Approval replaces the WasteWater Discharge Permit which was required before this regulation is enacted.

When making an application for Technical Approval, the business entity shall conduct study on impact of the wastewater discharge to the environment. The content of the study has been already stipulated in the Regulation, and it differs among different type of discharging methods (e.g injection to land or discharge to surface water, etc). The content of this study is stipulated in Article 133, Paragraphs (3),(4) and (5).

If the study has shown that the wastewater to be discharged exceeds the applicable standards, the business entity is not allowed to dump their wastewater to the environment. The entity will be directed to utilize the wastewater (reuse, recycle, regain, refill, etc). In this case, the official shall review and evaluate all Technical Approvals that have been issued.

 

2. Content of Technical Approval

Technical Approval for wastewater discharge shall contain:

  1. Technical standards for wastewater discharge
    • Parameter and numerical threshold of wastewater quality standard
    • Wastewater treatment facility design
    • Compliance point with its location and name
    • Dumping point and/or utilization of wastewater along with its location
    • Monitoring point at surface water body, groundwater and/or land (with point’s name and location)
    • Cost for wastewater treatment
    • Obligation (e.g to separate wastewater channel from rain water channel, etc)
    • Prohibition (e.g dumping of wastewater outside the compliance point, etc)
  2. Standards for labor recources;
    • Person in charge for water pollution control
    • Operator of wastewater treatment facility
    • Other certified personnel based on specific needs
  3. Environmental management system
    • Wastewater quality monitoring system
    • Wastewater standard compliance mechanism
    • Periodic monitoring of ground and surface water
    • Reporting system of all obligation regarding water pollution control

 

3. Compliance and Monitoring

  • In complying with the wastewater quality standards, business entities may cooperate with other business entities or government/local government agencies who provide such service.
  • Monitoring of wastewater quality shall be done either manually or automatically and continuously. The Ministry will decide which business sector needs to perform automatic and continous monitoring.
  • The compliance report shall be submitted via the Environmental Information System.
  • The minister will develop water pollution load trading system, which allows business entities to buy other business entity’s pollution load allocation if they have exceeded their limits.

 

4. Cost internalization

Every business entity needs to internalize the cost for environmental protection and water quality management into their production and/or operational cost. The activities of which costs shall be internalized include:

  • Water pollution prevention
  • Wastewater management
  • Wastewater and water quality monitoring
  • Water pollution mitigation
  • Restoration
  • Emergency infrastructure
  • Technology development
  • Capacity building
  • Other activities that support efforts on water pollution control

 

5. Water quality standards

  • Water bodies quality standards (for lake and river or similar waters) are given in Annex VI of this Regulation.
  • Wastewater quality standards will be set in MoEF ministrial regulation. The current MoEF ministrial regulation on wastewater quality standards is Regulation No. 5 of 2014. As long as this regulation is not revoked, it shall be effective.
  • The authorative officials (Ministry, provincial government, or regent/city government) may impose standards stricter than the ministry regulation based on the result of environmental impact study, which must be conducted before obtaining the Technical Approval.

 

6. Additional note

In the past Wastewater Discharge Permit system, the permit was valid only for 3 years and must be renewed/extended periodically. It is still not clear under this Regulation how often the Technical Approval shall be renewed/extended.

 

Government Regulation No. 22 of 2021 on Environmental Protection and Management: