Surface treatment. Effluents and regulations

Surface treatment activities are likely to generate pollution, nuisances and risks that require strict and constantly evolving regulations. It is therefore difficult to be constantly up to date in our knowledge and understanding of the regulations (regulatory watch) to be able to take these regulatory obligations into account.

The ever-increasing importance attached to environmental issues by government authorities, local residents and contractors, coupled with the drastic and evolving regulatory constraints on surface treatment activities, are all reasons why the profession is trying to understand, and even anticipate, the main regulatory obligations and apply them.

The surface treatment decree of September 26, 1985, amended in 2006, plus the new water law (LEMA) of December 30, 2006... have introduced new regulatory obligations. The aim of this article is to provide an update on the regulatory obligations of surface treatment activities with regard to liquid effluents. In general, liquid effluents cannot be discharged directly into the natural environment without appropriate prior treatment. Discharge limits in terms of concentration, flow and flux are defined according to national limit values, the sensitivity of the receiving environment (quality objective) and the nature of the activities (substances, processes, etc.).

For surface treatment activities subject to Declaration or Authorization, limit values are imposed by the regulations governing Installations Classées pour la Protection de l'Environnement (ICPE). As a reminder, ICPE regulations are so-called "integrated" regulations, since they include all the regulatory requirements defined in the various environmental texts by theme (e.g. water nomenclature, waste regulations, etc.).