Activities requiring an environmental permit, i.e. special uses of water, are described as a consolidated list in §187 of the Water Act. Activities in inland water bodies as well as in the sea require an environmental permit.
In order to decide whether a permit is required for the activity or not, the planned activity should be compared with the special uses of the water below and analyse whether any of these activities take place in the course of my activities or not.
If existence of a corresponding plan is necessary for the activities permitted by an environmental permit, the environmental permit is not granted before such detailed plan is established. Upon application for a permit, it may be necessary to carry out a preliminary assessment to consider the need for an environmental impact assessment or an environmental impact assessment.
Requirements arising from law and directly applicable are not entered in the environmental permit. They are written in the reminder of the permit holder.
The application for an environmental permit is submitted in the information system KOTKAS
The requirements applicable to the application from the Regulation specifying the requirements and the procedure for granting the permit and the data composition of the application for environmental permit and permit, the General Part of the Environmental Code Act and the Water Act apply to the application.
Water abstraction from surface water or groundwater, redirection of groundwater
Water bean permit is needed for the following activities:
- Water is abstracted from a surface water body, including ice, in the volume of more than 30 m3 per day.
- Groundwater is abstracted in the amount of more than 150 m3 per month or 10 m3 per day
- Mineral water is abstracted.
- Effluent is discharged directly into groundwater
- Groundwater is amended, redirected or discharged back.
Discharge of pollutants, effluent, cooling water and storm water into a recipient
Water permit is needed for the following activities:
- Pollutants or effluent and cooling water are discharged into a recipient.
- Effluent is discharged directly into groundwater.
- Storm water is discharged into a recipient from waste treatment land, industrial territory, land of port structures, land of peat industry and other places involving contamination risk or hazard to the status of the water body.
- Water removed in extraction of mineral resources is discharged into a recipient.
WHAT IS A RECIPIENT?
A recipient is a water body, or a part of a water body or earth’s crust into which treated effluent or pollutants are discharged.
WHAT IS TREATED EFFLUENT?
Treated effluent means used water that is discharged into the recipient. Storm water, mining water, quarry water, cooling water, water flowing in a land improvement system or water used in aquaculture or hydroelectric power production shall not be deemed treated effluent.
WHAT IS WASTEWATER?
Wastewater means water resulting from households, industry or other production that exceeds the applicable emission limit values and that requires purification before being discharged into the recipient. Storm water discharged into a combined sewerage system is also deemed wastewater.
Dredging of a body of water, placing a solid substance in a water body and dumping
Water permit is required for the following activities:
- A water body is dredged or dredging spoils in the volume of 100 m3 or more are placed onto the bottom of a water body.
- Solid substances with the volume of 100 m3 or more are discharged into a water body.
- Substances or objects with the volume of 100 m3 or more are dumped.
Registration of activities involving risk to aquatic environment is required in case of smaller volumes than previously mentioned.
WHAT IS DREDGING?
Dredging of water bodies means removal of sediments from the bottom of a water body, unless it is carried out in the course of maintenance of a land improvement system. Sediments include both mineral and organic material. This usually occurs, for example, when cleaning water bodies from sediment, but also when cleaning the water areas of ports, creating or restoring a draft of fairways, and extraction in the marine area.
WHAT IS A SOLID SUBSTANCE?
A solid substance is any solid material that is temporarily or permanently placed in a water body during construction. For example, stones, gravel, sand, boulders, soil, concrete, metal, etc. For the placement of a solid substance, environmental permits require, For example, the construction of piers, quays and slips, the construction of shore protection area, the installation of cable lines, pipelines and wind turbines require environmental permit for placing a solid substance. As well as easier activities such as the construction of spawning areas and artificial rapids, the placement of sand in a water body when establishing a shore area, etc.
WHAT IS DUMPING?
Dumping means any intentional discharge into the sea or sea-bed insertion of waste or other substances or objects from a ship or aircraft, platform or any other maritime installation. It also means intentional discharge of ships, aircraft, platforms or other maritime installations into the sea and abandoning or toppling of platforms or other maritime installations in the sea, at their site of use for the purpose of disposal. Only dredging soil may be dumped in the Baltic Sea.
VOLUMES OF ACTIVITIES
Dredging, placement and dumping of a solid substance are activities in case of which the need for an environmental permit depends on the volume of the activity. An environmental permit is required if the volume of dredging, solid substance or dumping exceeds 100 m3. Registration of activities involving risk to aquatic environment is required in case of smaller volumes.
The volume of a solid substance includes all solid material placed in a water body below the normal surface of water. Material from the same working area is not included in the volume of a solid substance.
In case both dredging and the placement of a solid substance take place in the course of one complex activity, and one of them requires an environmental permit and the other requires registration of activities involving risk to aquatic environment, a joint application for an environmental permit must be submitted.
Damming and use of hydro-electric energy
Damming of a water body, i.e. raising the water level and use of hydro-electric energy require an environmental permit, including the existing damming. If you wish to build a dam, it is necessary to apply for an environmental permit for placing a solid substance in a water body.
No environmental permit is required for damming if the natural level of a watercourse is raised by up to one meter, unless the damming takes place in the water bodies that need protection as spawning areas or habitats of salmon, brown trout, salmon trout or grayling, or sections of such water bodies, included in the list established under the Nature Conservation Act.
Read more about dams and damming HERE.
Aquaculture
Aquaculture requires an environmental permit if the production growth is over 1 ton per annum or if more than 30 m3 of water per day is taken from a body of surface water or groundwater more than 150 cm3 per month or more than 10 cm3 per day.
If the annual increase in production is less than 1t and the aquaculture facility is connected to a surface water body, then a registration of activities involving risk to aquatic environment. Additionally, the quantities of water abstraction must also be taken into account. If the abstraction of water from groundwater is less than 10 m3 per day or less than 150 m3 per month and less than 30 m3 of surface water per day, then registration of activities involving risk to aquatic environment is required. In case of increased abstraction of water, an environmental permit is required.
Read more about registration of activities involving risk to aquatic environment HERE.
Construction and disposal of a water body, changing shoreline, disposal of wetland, cleaning of a water body using chemicals
Water permit is required for the following activities:
- A standing water body or wetland with an area of over 1 hectare is created or a standing water body or wetland with an area of 0.1 hectare is liquidated, unless the water body is created in the extraction of mineral resources.
- The shoreline of a water body included in a body of surface water, a natural lake not included in a body of surface water or an artificial lake with the mirror area of over 1 hectare is modified, unless it is a water body created or modified in the extraction of mineral resources.
- The physical or chemical properties of water or biological properties of the water body or hydrological regime is modified.
- Chemicals are used for the purification of a water body, unless it does not substantially modify the physical or chemical properties of water or biological properties of the water body.
In relation to these points, ponds are the most desired to be built. Based on the above, a water permit is necessary if a pond of more than one hectare or standing water body is built. Construction of a pond on a watercourse also requires a water permit if dredging of an existing water body is carried out or the shoreline is changed during the activity. The activities referred to here cannot be explicitly described or defined, which is why it is necessary to consult our specialists regarding the need for a water permit due to the planned activity.
Activities at sea, servicing, loading and unloading of ships
All of the above-mentioned activities require a water permit even if these take place in the sea.
In addition, water permit is required for regular service or repair of a ship related to hazardous substances, or regular loading or unloading of ships with hazardous substances or solid bulk cargo volatile with wind, except when it is carried out in a closed system.
A special user of water, i.e. the holder of an environmental permit submits, at least once a year, a report on the amount of used water and effluent, amount of contaminants discharged into a recipient, economic indicators of water use, and the composition and volume of the substance removed, relocated and dumped in the course of dredging of the sea, and on the placement of solid substances in the sea.
The holder of special use of water, an environmental and integrated permit is required to submit an annual report of the use of water on the above-mentioned activities in the environmental decisions information system KOTKAS by 15 February of the year following the reporting year.
Water permit is not required:
- Abstraction of water in an emergency, resolving a rescue event or simulation of these events during drills.
- Discharge of groundwater from an area with a high level of groundwater or with waterlogged soil for the functioning and protection of lawfully built construction works.
- Damming if the natural level of a watercourse is raised by up to one meter, unless the damming takes place in a water body that needs protection as a spawning area or habitat of salmon, brown trout, salmon trout or grayling, or a section of such water body, which is included in the list established under §51 (2) of the Nature Conservation Act.
- Construction of a land improvement system and performance of work to manage land improvement systems.
- Modification of the shoreline of an artificial lake not included in a body of surface water, where the artificial lake has been created due to extraction of mineral resources, is located in a deposit, a mining claim or a mine service plot, and the land disturbed by extraction of mineral resources has not been declared as reclaimed by the issuer of the extraction permit in accordance with §§48 and 50 of the Earth’s Crust Act.
- Discharge of up to one cubic metre of treated effluent per day into a water body or up to five cubic metres of treated effluent per day into soil if such activity meets the requirements for discharging treated effluent into a recipient established pursuant to §128 (7) of this Act.
NAME OF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE PERMIT IN PUBLIC VIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION SYSTEM KOTKAS
Search for the correct permit by the permit number or owner, open it by clicking on the permit number, and the name of the administrator of the permit is visible below the main data.
Last updated: 16.12.2022
