Discharge permit is an international basic system of environmental management. The United States is one of the earliest countries to set up a sewage permit system. The related experience is worthy of reference.
Take the sewage discharge permit of the United States as an example. The US sewage permit started in 1970s and is based on the clean water act. The clean water law stipulates that any act of discharging pollutants from a point source to a water body, whether or not it will pollute the receiving water body, must obtain a pollutant discharge permit, and abide by the emission limits set in the license and the timetable for pollution discharge, otherwise it is illegal. The EPA and the State Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), as the licensing department, have their characteristics and inspiration as follows:
First, discharge permits meet multiple criteria simultaneously, and the core objective is water quality improvement. The sewage discharge permit of the United States must meet the requirements of the emission standards, the water quality standards and the maximum daily load, so that the control of point source pollution is directly related to the improvement of water quality. The permits control the emission of point sources from two levels, namely, technical emission limits and water quality standards. The maximum daily load management is the pollution distribution tool before the restoration of the water body, and the point source and non point source can be considered as a whole, and the distribution of pollution load between all point sources and non point sources can be carried out. The maximum daily load is not mandatory, and it needs to be controlled through emission permits, voluntary emission reduction activities supported by federal grants (such as non point source pollution control), state and local legal and statutory requirements, personal and voluntary actions. At present, the federal and state have developed the maximum daily load allocation scheme for 70 thousand damaged water bodies.
The two is sewage discharge permit issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the State Environmental Protection Bureau work together. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has 48 staff members who are responsible for licensing matters. From the license issue, they are mainly responsible for the issuance of general licenses for ships, buildings, rainwater, etc., and the review of all licensing applications. At the same time, the EPA authorized the state government to implement the relevant license issuance and supervision. By August 2015, 46 states and the Virginia Islands had been authorized to issue all and part of the permits in the region. Generally, the US EPA will no longer deal with a license issued by a state or a project executed by the United States, but the EPA must check the license issued by the state and have the right to oppose a license that has conflicting content with the federal requirements. For states that are not licensed by the EPA or are not licensed entirely, the EPA Regional Office is responsible for issuing the license.
The three is the wide coverage of pollutants and classified management of different sources. The US license management has a wide range of definitions of pollutants, including any type of industry, city, and agricultural waste discharged to water into 3 categories: conventional pollutants (BOD5, total suspended solids, coliforms, pH, oil and oil), toxic pollutants (heavy metals and artificial organic compounds), and unconventional pollution. Dye (ammonia, nitrogen, phosphorus, COD, etc.). Different licenses are issued for different sources. From the point of view of management, they are divided into general license and individual license, and then classified according to the type of pollutant discharge facilities. General permits do not require individual applications, the examination and approval process is simple, applicable to a certain geographical area with a certain common nature of the specific sewage facilities. It includes: rainwater point sources, similar or substantially similar industry facilities, emissions of similar wastes or facilities for the use and disposal of the same type of sewage, facilities for the utilization and disposal of sewage sludge, facilities that require the same emission limits and operating conditions, and facilities requiring the same or similar monitoring measures. Individual license is a kind of license which is specially applicable to individual facilities. It stipulates special restrictions and requirements for the specific characteristics and functions of this facility. The license is usually valid for 5 years. Before the expiration of the license, the sewage equipment operator must apply for a new license.
The four is to use the license as an important basis for law enforcement, and enforce the law with the principle of high illegal cost. The 309th law of the clean water law stipulates all kinds of penalties for illegal sewage disposal. The Department in charge of environmental protection can follow the contents of emission monitoring and facilities inspection in the license. If the facilities violate the limits and conditions of the license, the license management agency can find and correct the violation of the license stipulated in the license. In accordance with the circumstances of the violation, the civil or criminal liability of the illegal enterprise can be investigated. Civil law enforcement includes administrative penalties taken by EPA, penalties taken by judicial departments on behalf of EPA and other departments, and lawsuits brought by citizens. The penalty is calculated according to each pollutant and is linked to the daily penalty. For example, if an enterprise has 16 kinds of pollutants and 7 disagreements, the maximum penalty for each violation can be up to $32 thousand and 500 per day, according to the amount of $2500 per day. The civil fines are handed over to the US Treasury and incorporated into the treasury management.
The five is to formulate specific and detailed technical guidelines, which are both scientific and flexible, and enhance enforceability. In order to implement the licensing requirements, the US Environmental Protection Agency has developed a guide to the national emission reduction system. The 12 chapters include the application procedures, emission limits based on technology, emission limits based on water quality, monitoring and reporting requirements, special situations, content adjustment, administrative management procedures, implementation and enforcement, etc. Writing for an enterprise license