The Urban Waste Water Treatment (Scotland) Regulations 1994

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires–

“agglomeration” means an area where the population and/or economic activities are sufficiently concentrated for urban waste water to be collected and conducted to an urban waste water treatment plant or to a final discharge point;

“coastal waters” means the waters outside the low-water line or the outer limit of an estuary;

“collecting system” means a system of conduits which collects and conducts urban waste water;

“the Directive” means Council Directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban waste water treatment(1) and references to other Community Directives are references to Directives other than Council Directive 91/271/EEC;

“domestic waste water” means waste water from residential settlements and services which originates predominantly from the human metabolism and from household activities;

“estuary” means the transitional area at the mouth of a river between fresh-water and coastal waters, the outer (seaward) limits of which are shown on the maps kept in accordance with regulation 12;

“eutrophication” means the enrichment of water by nutrients, especially compounds of nitrogen and/or phosphorus, causing an accelerated growth of algae and higher forms of plant life to produce an undesirable disturbance to the balance of organisms present in the water and to the quality of the water concerned;

“high natural dispersion area” has the meaning given by regulation 3;

“industrial waste water” means any waste water which is discharged from premises used for carrying on any trade or industry, other than domestic waste water and run-off rain water;

“local authority” has the same meaning as in the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968(2);

“population equivalent” is a measurement of organic biodegradable load, and a population equivalent of 1(1p.e.) is the organic biodegradable load having a five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) of 60g of oxygen per day, the load being calculated on the basis of the maximum average weekly load entering the treatment plant during the year, excluding unusual situations such as those due to heavy rain;

“river purification authority” means a river purification authority within the meaning of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951(3);

“secondary treatment” means treatment of urban waste water by a process generally involving biological treatment with a secondary settlement or other process in which the requirements established in Table 1 in Schedule 3 are respected;

“sensitive area” has the meaning given by regulation 3;

“sludge” means residual sludge, whether treated or untreated, from urban waste water treatment plants;

“urban waste water” means domestic waste water or the mixture of domestic waste water with industrial waste water and/or run-off rain water;

and other expressions used in the Directive have the same meaning as in the Directive.

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule so numbered in these Regulations.