Transferring, varying and surrendering a water authorisation
Varying a water authorisation
You can apply to change the conditions or add new activities in your water authorisation.
Examples of when you will need to vary your licence include:
- Increasing or decreasing the volume of effluent discharged
- Increasing or decreasing the volume of water abstracted
- Changing the location of a discharge or abstraction
- Adding a new activity such as a new abstraction point
- Changing the treatment type or effluent contents
Transferring a water authorisation
If you will no longer be responsible for a water authorisation but the activity will be continuing you should make a joint application with the new responsible person to transfer the application.
Examples of when you will need to transfer your licence include:
- You have sold your business but the activity is still ongoing
- You wish to transfer part of your licence activities to another individual or company
It is your responsibility to apply for a transfer and you should contact your environmental regulator to do this. You will be responsible for complying with the conditions of the authorisation and paying annual subsistence fees until a transfer application has been submitted and processed.
Surrendering a water authorisation
If the activity will no longer be carried out you can apply to surrender your authorisation. You may also be able to partially surrender your authorisation depending on the activities you are carrying out.
Examples of when you may want to surrender your application are:
- A construction project has come to an end
- An abstraction is no longer needed
- A business has been sold and the activity listed in the authorisation is no longer taking place