Deviation from wastewater treatment in coastal and groundwater areas

The environmental authority of the Imatra region can, upon application, grant a permit to deviate from the basic cleaning requirements in the area referred to in § 156 a for a maximum period of five years at a time.
This means properties located at a maximum distance of 100 meters from a body of water or the sea, or in a groundwater area used for water procurement or suitable for that, and whose wastewater systems were built before 1.1.2004 . The wastewater systems of the properties in question must be in good condition, i.e. meet the basic requirements by 31.10.2019. The municipalities in the Imatra region have valid municipality-specific environmental protection regulations. In the environmental protection regulations, stricter wastewater treatment regulations have been issued for coastal areas and groundwater areas.

The condition for granting a deviation is that, taking into account the use of the property, the load on the environment must be considered considerably low compared to the load caused by untreated wastewater. It is also considered a condition if the actions required to improve the treatment system are unreasonable for the owner of the property due to the high costs and technical demands of the assessment as a whole. When assessing the unreasonableness of actions from the property owner's point of view, the following is taken into account:

1) the location of the property in the area intended to be extended to the sewer network

2) the high age of the owner of the property and those who live permanently on the property and other similar special factors related to the living situation

3) long-term unemployment, illness or other similar social performance impediment of the owner of the property

The granted permit expires if the use of the property changes in such a way that the load increases or the ownership or management of the property changes.

A deviation is requested from the environmental authority of the Imatra region. The forms can be requested from the environmental department of the Imatra region, customer service tel. 020 617 4323, ymparistotoimiimatra.fi (ymparistotoimi[at]imatra[dot]fi)

The application is sent to the address Imatran seudun ympäristötoimi, Virastokatu 2, 55100 Imatra or by e-mail environmental actionimatra.fi (umparistotoimi[at]imatra[dot]fi)

Environmental engineer Carita Kattainen provides more information on the matter carita.kattainenimatra.fi (carita[dot]kattainen[at]imatra[dot]fi)  tel. 020 617 1179 or customer service tel. 020 617 4323, ymparistotoimiimatra.fi (ymparistotoimi[at]imatra[dot]fi)