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Trade Effluent Monitoring Service

What is our Trade Effluent Monitoring Service?

Effective trade effluent monitoring is essential for maintaining compliance, protecting the environment, and avoiding costly penalties. We provide end-to-end industrial water monitoring solutions tailored to your discharge consent requirements.

Whether you’re looking to install a new system, upgrade existing equipment, or need support understanding your regulatory obligations, our experienced team is here to help.

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Understanding your discharge consent

Trade effluent refers to any wastewater generated during processes or activities conducted at industrial facilities. To discharge trade effluent, you must get a consent licence from your water company.

If you are discharging directly to surface water or groundwater you need consent from your environmental regulator. In England this is the Environment Agency (EA), Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) for Scotland and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for Wales.

The consent will set limits for how much you can discharge. Your discharge consent will be specific to your process, but it is likely to include:

Our Environmental Management team can support you with existing or future permits and licenses in compliance with the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016. We can also advise you with your discharge consent in compliance with Water Industry’s Act 1991. With our support we can take the stress away and make the process as seamless as possible.

Once you know what you are allowed to discharge, you must always comply with your consent. Our Trade Effluent Monitoring service allows you to proactively maintain compliance.

Site survey and requirements assessment

Our experts will visit your site to assess your existing infrastructure, discharge points, and operational processes. We’ll consider access, safety, and environmental conditions to determine the most appropriate monitoring setup.

This step allows us to identify any compliance gaps and ensure the trade effluent monitoring system is tailored to your site’s needs. It’s also a crucial step in planning for long-term reliability and ease of maintenance.

Short-term flow and load surveys

Short term flow and load (quality) surveys may be driven by a requirement to identify the impact of your processes on the effluent being discharged from site and how to improve them in line with your discharge consent. Improving processes and effluent quality, or reducing the throughput of water, can significantly reduce your trade effluent bills making a clear business case for action.

Cura Terrae has working relationships with independent companies who are able to provide the treatment process design and construction that may be required following a flow and load (quality) survey

For more information on how flow and load surveys are carried out for municipal customers, see our Flow and Load Survey page.

System design

We develop bespoke trade effluent monitoring systems based on your discharge consent and site-specific requirements. This includes selecting appropriate instrumentation (e.g. flow meters, auto-samplers, pH sensors), designing data collection frameworks, and identifying power or telemetry needs.

Our expert design ensures that your industrial water monitoring system is robust, reliable, and compliant with MCERTS and local regulations.

Equipment supply and custom fabrication

Flow: Trade Effluent monitoring typically requires the installation of a primary measuring device – a weir or flume – and a secondary device – a flow meter.

Trade effluent discharges vary in relation to process changes and can include high and low flows. Our teams are experts in selecting the best available technology including MCERTS solutions for varying flow conditions.

Sampling: Water samples must be available from the previous 24-hour period for testing at any time by your regulating authority. Refrigerated automatic water samplers are often used to prevent bacteriological degradation of samples and to ensure a representative sample is always available.

Based on your requirements and those set by your consenting authority, We advise on the most cost-effective option. In England and Wales, we provide MCERTS certified automatic samplers that meet the Environment Agency’s current requirements.

pH and Temperature monitoring: As part of a trade effluent consent, the continuous measurement of pH and temperature may be required. Sensors and probes which integrate with the flow meter and sampler arrangement are supplied for this purpose.

Installation and commissioning

Our experienced engineers install your monitoring equipment safely and efficiently, following best practice and site-specific requirements. We offer both temporary and permanent installations. Once in place, we fully commission the system – verifying setup, testing functionality, and ensuring that everything works exactly as expected, in line with your discharge permit.

Calibration and verification

To maintain accurate results and regulatory compliance, your equipment must be regularly calibrated and verified. We provide full calibration services to manufacturer and MCERTS standards, ensuring sensors and samplers are operating within specification. We also offer ongoing verification for audit-readiness and peace of mind.

Data collection and telemetry

We integrate telemetry solutions that enable near real-time remote monitoring of your trade effluent discharge. Automated data logging, alarms, and alerts can notify your team of any exceedances or system issues. We help you track compliance performance, streamline reporting, and reduce the risk of breaches – giving you full visibility and control over your industrial water monitoring.

Maintenance and servicing

In order to obtain accurate, reliable and continuous data, trade effluent monitoring equipment must be regularly maintained. Neglect of this type of equipment can result in higher trade effluent charges or even fines, prosecution and reduced equipment life and performance. We provide proactive trade effluent maintenance services tailored to your requirements.

Our service packages include routine maintenance, inspections, and emergency support. We help you avoid unexpected downtime, maintain system accuracy, and stay compliant with regulatory requirements. Whether it’s routine sampler servicing or fault investigation, our engineers provide responsive, expert support.

If we implement telemetry it allows for remote diagnostics which reduces your servicing costs – as we may be able to diagnose and remedy issues remotely, removing the need for call outs and saving costs

If telemetry is implemented, it enables remote diagnostics – which may reduce the need for on-site callouts. This can significantly lower servicing costs, minimise downtime, and ensure faster issue resolution. By combining expert engineering support with smart technology, we help you maintain compliance and optimise performance while keeping operational costs under control.

Training and handover

Once your trade effluent monitoring system is installed, we offer full on-site training to your team. This includes equipment operation, routine checks, basic maintenance, and interpreting telemetry data.

We’ll also provide documentation and post-installation support — ensuring you feel confident managing your discharge monitoring system from day one.

Frequently asked questions

Below are answers to some of the most common questions about trade effluent monitoring.

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