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PURPLAN newsletter
PURPLAN newsletter 2009
Certificates
Water-contaminating substances – general
Many substances used in private households and in the commercial sector are water pollutants. Water pollutants are substances that can cause serious health hazards if they infiltrate into groundwater, ground level bodies of water, into a waste water treatment plant (sewage plant) or simply into the ground.
Therefore, it is our duty to take effective precautionary measures against pipeline leakages by constructing secured pockets and additional collecting mechanisms and other safety devices. This will particularly enable us
- to prevent harmful substances from contaminating water or water treatment plants in case of leakages and, if they still infiltrate into a body of water or waste water system,
- to as much as possible minimize the damage and contain the harmful effects and
- to concretely identify the water-contaminating substances and categorize them into different water hazard classes (WGK 1 – 3) according to the degree of hazard. Basic guidelines formulated by the federal government, classification of water-contaminating substances
The federal government has centrally specified, within the framework of the Articles 19g ff. Water Management Act (WHG), the following basic requirements which are concretised by the federal state laws.
Installations for handling water-contaminating substances
- must be designed, constructed, erected, maintained and operated in such a manner to avert contamination of bodies of water or to preclude any harmful change of its properties; in general, they must comply with the commonly accepted regulations of technology.
Installations that have no subordinate role in safeguarding bodies of water must be
- permitted by governmental authorities,
- inspected by the operators before commissioning them in the course of self-supervision and, additionally, once every 5 years by authorised supervisors,
- erected and maintained only by recognised technical personnel (obligation of specialised company).
Implementation of the Water Management Act (Wasserhaushaltsgesetz - WHG)
The federal states are the competent authority to implement the Water Management Act (WHG).
Towards the end of 1980s representatives of the federal states in the inter-state body concerned with water brought out a draft ordinance on industrial installations intended for handling water-contaminating substances and on specialised companies (Download: Muster-VAwS), during the subsequent years these ordinances were duly incorporated in the respective federal state laws.
Based on this, the federal states have formulated their specific ordinances pertaining to industrial installations (VAwS); they shed light on aspects as to
- how installations intended for handling water-contaminating substances need to be protected (basic obligations),
- which installations must be notified to the federal authorities (duty of disclosure),
- exceptions allowed for specialised companies,
- how and which installations need to be supervised by recognized experts (obligation of inspection),
- to what extent restrictions are imposed on installations in sensitive areas subject to water management regulations (requirements in protected areas of sources of water and mineral springs, areas susceptible to flooding),
- procedures for reporting to authorities about incidents of hazards (hazard report).
Future ordinances on industrial installations issued by the federal government (Bundes-VAwS)
Following the reforms of federalism, the subject of water pollution control concerning installations and materials will be covered in future by the federal laws. Henceforth, regulations will be specified in the section of the Environmental Code (UGB) dealing with water. The ordinances of the Federal states will be replaced by Federal ordinances regulating industrial installations (Bundes-VAwS). Presently the Environmental Code (USB) is being drafted; thereafter, the federal ordinances regulating industrial installation (Bundes-VAwS) will be drafted and publicised soon.