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Oil separators

Oil separators are an essential tool in our battle against urban diffuse pollution. And our water environment is extremely valuable so we need to win this battle. Jo Bradley, Pollution Prevention Advisor at the Environment Agency, describes the armoury.

It is essential that you specify the installation of a separator on any site where there is an identified risk of oil pollution arising from the end-use of a development.

The separator that is specified has to be effective, fit for purpose and compliant with the regulatory controls. These things must be specified. If the specification does not state that the separator must be compliant, then who knows what will be installed on these sites? Clearly, effective pollution prevention from future developments across the UK lies within the hands of the specifiers, who can dictate the effectiveness of separators to be installed.

I have spent the last 12 months working with the separator industry to help them to supply effective separators, and in the process have rewritten the Environment Agency’s Pollution Prevention Guideline on oil separators, known as PPG3. PPG3 leads you through the selection procedure so you can be sure to choose the right separator for the right site. It also provides information on the types of separators available and how to get the right size.

PPG3 explains the difference between Class 1 and Class 2 separators and highlights the need for all separators discharging to rivers or streams to be Class 1 every time. An oil separator cannot be discharged to groundwater via a soakaway as this may pollute underground water supplies.

PPG3 is supported by a list of oil separator manufacturers in the UK who have provided evidence to their local Trading Standards authority that their product is effective, watertight and durable. These are the essential requirements that oil separators for permanent inclusion in works in the UK must fulfil if they are to meet the Construction products Regulations 1991. The manufacturer must be able to declare that its product satisfies these requirements for it to be legally supplied, or offered for supply, in the UK.

Trading Standards Authorities across the UK are working with the Environment Agency to check the evidence behind these declarations of conformity to make sure they are properly supported with test certificates where appropriate. Those that have a ‘declaration of conformity’ that has been checked by Trading Standards appear on the Environment Agency’s list. This helps you to identify separators that are going to protect our water environment for many years.

Getting the right separator isn’t the end of the story though! Once in place and in operation, it is crucial that they are properly operated and maintained so that they carry on preventing pollution. To allow this to happen, they must be located where a cleaning tanker can easily access them. And they must be fitted with an oil level alarm; this alerts the site operator when the oil storage capacity is being compromised and the separator needs attention. Since the alarms need a supply of electricity, the location needs some careful thought. Or you can ‘go even greener’ and consider installing an alarm powered by a solar panel or wind turbine.

PPG3 and the list of manufacturers are both available on the pollution prevention pages of the Agency’s website and they can be downloaded. But a word of caution – the list is updated as more manufacturers provide the appropriate evidence to Trading Standards, so please don’t print it out and run the risk of using an out-of-date version.

Jo is happy to answer any questions you may have. She can be contacted at jo.bradley@environment-agency.gov.uk.

Related NBS information:

Articles:

• Environmental Permitting Regulations

Selected links:

• Pollution prevention

Written November 2006

 

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