Guidance

Dewatering and depositing silts from sustainable drainage systems (SUDS) on land: RPS 55

Updated 5 January 2023

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/deposit-and-dewatering-of-non-hazardous-silts/dewatering-and-depositing-silts-from-sustainable-drainage-systems-suds-on-land-rps-55

This regulatory position statement (RPS) does not change your legal requirement to get an environmental permit for a waste operation or a groundwater activity when you dewater and deposit silt from SUDS on land.

However, the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action against you if do not comply with this legal requirement provided:

  • your activities meet the description set out in this RPS
  • you comply with the conditions set out in this RPS

In addition, your activity must not cause (or be likely to cause) environmental pollution or harm human health, or:

  • cause a risk to water, air, soil, plants or animals
  • cause a nuisance through noise or odours
  • adversely affect the countryside or places of special interest

When this RPS applies

This RPS applies to dewatering and depositing silt from SUDS on land.

This RPS only applies to SUDS that collect surface water drainage from:

  • roof drains
  • residential property driveways
  • private residential car parks
  • roads serving a limited number of residential properties, such as cul-de-sacs, home zones (residential streets where people and vehicles share the whole of the street space) and general access roads
  • private non-residential car parks, for example at schools and offices, but excluding retail and industrial premises

Conditions you must comply with

You must:

  • do sight and smell checks to assess if hydrocarbons are present in the silt and whether further analysis is required
  • manage silt assessed as hazardous waste through a suitably permitted facility
  • deposit the silt as close as possible to the SUDS where the silt was produced
  • deposit the silt outside the operational area of the SUDS
  • take appropriate measures to prevent silt runoff from silt deposits during heavy rain or loss of storage capacity in the SUDS
  • keep records for 2 years to show that you have complied with this RPS and make these records available to the Environment Agency on request

You must not:

  • dewater and deposit the silt in a groundwater source protection zone 1
  • dewater and deposit more than 5 cubic metres of silt per hectare over any 12 month period
  • deposit silt onto land adjacent to the SUDS and then move the silt further away, unless any such further deposits are authorised under an environmental permit

When you must check back

The Environment Agency will review this RPS by 30 November 2025. You will need to check back then to see if it still applies or if you need to apply for an environmental permit for a waste operation.

The Environment Agency can withdraw or amend this enforcement position before it expires if they consider it necessary. This includes where the activity that this RPS relates to has not changed.

If you cannot comply with this RPS

If you operate under this RPS but think you may no longer be able to comply with its conditions, you must tell the Environment Agency immediately.

Contact the Environment Agency

General enquiries

National Customer Contact Centre
PO Box 544
Rotherham
S60 1BY

Email [email protected]

Telephone 03708 506 506

Telephone from outside the UK (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm GMT) +44 (0) 114 282 5312

Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

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