Register of pollution incidents and permits

​Request 719297080​

1. FOI 1: Public Register Location

• “Please confirm where and how the public can access the register of pollution incidents and permits, as required by Article 16 of the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000.”

Clarification 

Please confirm exactly what information you are requesting as Article 16 of the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000 is about Approved codes of practice, not 'the register of pollution incidents and permits’.

Clarification received 

I am requesting information about the existence and public accessibility of any register or official record containing the following:

1. Pollution discharge permits or consents issued under the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000 (or any related environmental law);

2. Recorded pollution incidents or breaches (including unauthorised discharges, spills, or enforcement actions);

3. Conditions or monitoring data attached to such permits;

4. The location(s), format(s), and access process for any such registers or internal records.

If there is no formal “public register,” I request:

• Confirmation of whether any internal register or tracking system exists for discharge permits or pollution incidents;

• Details of how this information is stored and classified;

• The legal or policy basis for any restrictions on public access;

• Whether the information falls under the scope of the Environmental Information (Jersey) Regulations 2012

Response

1

Records of ‘Pollution discharge permits or consents issued under the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000 (or any related environmental law)’ exist, but not all are publicly accessible.  

Public consultations for Discharge Permit applications are carried out and are available to view as open consultations (at the time consultation takes place) and as closed consultations on www.Gov.je using the link below. 

Therefore Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Consultations ​

2 

Records of ‘Recorded pollution incidents or breaches (including unauthorised discharges, spills, or enforcement actions)’ exist but are not publicly accessible unless they are made public through and after court proceedings where a criminal prosecution is brought.  

In addition, there are statistics published on www.Gov.je  which relate to pollution incidents which can be found using the links below:     

• Water statistics

• Annual Report and Accounts for the States of Jersey  

• gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=4788​  - Pollution statistics by type and location (FOI)

3  

Records of ‘Conditions or monitoring data attached to such permits’ exist but are not publicly accessible.

4 

Internal records are not publicly available; internal registers / tracking systems for discharge permits or pollution incidents are stored on the Scheduled Public Authority’s IT Systems.

• Information on Discharge Permits is stored on Microsoft (MS) Excel Spreadsheets, and on Government servers within various software, such as MS Word, MS Outlook, PDF files, image and video file software. 

Information on pollution incidents under the Water Pollution Law is stored on a Microsoft (MS) Access database, MS Excel Spreadsheets and on Government servers within various software, such as MS Word, MS Outlook, PDF files, image and video file software.     

• The legal basis for ‘Dissemination of information’ and restrictions on providing information is exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as this information is accessible in Article 8 of the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000 which can be acceded using the following link: 

Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000 ​

• The information requested does not fall under the scope of the Environmental Information (Jersey) Regulations 2012, as this Law doesn’t exist.  

Article applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.​