NI Water has established a specialist enforcement unit to ensure businesses comply with trade effluent discharge regulations, marking early success with two enforcement cases.

The Trade Effluent Compliance and Investigation Team (TECIT), created to oversee compliance among consented trade customers, recently concluded cases against Linden Foods Ltd and Knysna (NI) Ltd, both of which accepted liability through a formal caution for breaches of The Water and Sewerage Services (NI) Order 2006.

NI Water Head of Environmental Regulation Angela Halpenny said: "TECIT aims to engage with companies so they are aware of their obligations and make sure they are compliant to discharge lawfully under the Water and Sewerage Services (NI) Order 2006."

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She added that the team is trained to conduct formal investigations in line with policing standards: "TECIT are trained to operate under the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (PACE) standards to conduct Interviews Under Caution. NI Water’s TECIT enforcement tools range from action plans, warning letters and on occasion criminal prosecutions.

"NI Water treats 340 million litres of wastewater every day through a network which comprises over 16,500 kilometres of pipes and more than 1,000 wastewater treatment works. As a company, we place the highest possible priority on the protection of the environment to which we safely discharge treated wastewater each and every day from our wastewater treatment plants. TECIT will therefore continue to work with consented traders to promote compliance, prevent pollution and ensuring NI Water’s assets and infrastructure operate effectively."