The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2014

Schedule 3 (exempt facilities: descriptions and conditions)

13.  In Schedule 3, in Part 3, after paragraph 3 insert—

“Open-loop ground source heating and cooling systems

4.— (1) For the purpose of paragraph 5(a)(i) of Schedule 2, the description is the discharge of water to groundwater from a heating or cooling system to which sub-paragraph (3) applies with altered temperature.

(2) For the purpose of paragraph 5(a)(ii) of that Schedule, the conditions in relation to a groundwater activity of that description are—

(a) that nothing should be added to water discharged from the system;

(b) that the temperature of water discharged from the system—

(i) subject to sub-paragraph (ii), must not exceed 25^o C, and

(ii) must not vary by more than 10^o C compared to that in the aquifer from which it was abstracted;

(c) that the system must not be on a known contaminated site or have had a previous contaminative use;

(d) that water from the system must not be discharged less than 50 metres from a watercourse or groundwater-fed wetland;

(e) that water from the system must not be discharged within—

(i) 50 metres of a point at which water is abstracted from underground strata, or

(ii) a zone defined by a 50-day travel time for groundwater to reach a groundwater abstraction point that is used to supply water for domestic or food production purposes;

(f) that the discharge of water from the system must be to the same aquifer as that from which it was abstracted;

(g) that water within the system must not be used for any other purpose.

(3) This sub-paragraph applies to a system—

(a) that involves—

(i) the abstraction of groundwater to obtain heating or (as the case may be) cooling, and

(ii) the subsequent discharge of that water; and

(b) that is—

(i) a cooled aquifer system with a volume of less than 1500 cubic metres per day;

(ii) a balanced system with a volume of less than 430 cubic metres per day; or

(iii) a heated aquifer system with a volume of less than 215 cubic metres per day.

(4) In this paragraph—

“balanced system” means a system used for both heating and cooling and where in a 5-year period the ratio of the discharge water temperature to the abstracted water temperature is within the range 0.8 to 1.2;

“cooled aquifer system” means a system used for both heating and cooling and where in a 5-year period the ratio of the discharge water temperature to the abstracted water temperature is less than 0.8;

“groundwater-fed wetland” means a terrestrial ecosystem directly depending on a body of groundwater (within the meaning of the Water Framework Directive) and includes—

(a)

a European site (which has the meaning given in regulation 8 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010(1));

(b)

a site of special scientific interest (which has the meaning given in section 52(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981(2));

“heated aquifer system” means a system used for both heating and cooling and where in a 5-year period the ratio of the discharge water temperature to the abstracted water temperature exceeds 1.2.”.

(1)

S.I. 2010/460, to which there are amendments not relevant to this instrument.

(2)

1981 c. 69; the definition was inserted by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), section 75(1) and Schedule 9, paragraph 5(1) and (2).