OSPAR CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT OF THE
NORTH-EAST ATLANTIC
Guideline 3:
Quantification and Reporting of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Discharges from
Industrial Plants
(Reference Number: 2000-12)
(Source: OSPAR 00/9/2 Add.3 and OSPAR 00/20/1, § 9.5a)
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HARP-NUT Guideline 3
Guideline 3: Quantification and reporting of nitrogen and phosphorus
discharges from industrial plants
Contents
Section 1:
Section 2:
Section 3:
Section 4:
Section 5:
Section 6:
1.
Objectives
Introduction
Reporting
Future Line of Action
References
HARP Reporting Format
Objectives
1.1
To describe procedures for the quantification of nitrogen and phosphorus discharges from industrial
plants not connected to public wastewater treatment plants. The guideline should enable the comparison of
nitrogen and phosphorus figures from different industrial sectors and facilitate national assessments of
measures implemented.
1.2
To list the type of data to be reported on in addition to annual figures on discharges of nitrogen and
phosphorus from industrial plants.
2.
Introduction
2.1
General
2.1.1 This Guideline concerns industrial plants with direct discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus from
production water into surface waters. The procedures for the quantification of discharges from industrial
plants connected to municipal sewerage systems are described in Guideline 4 (Sewer systems). However, the
recommended procedures are also relevant for quantifying the industrial portion of the nitrogen and
phosphorus loads in municipal wastewater.
2.1.2 The industrial sectors to be included in the reporting, and that may discharge significant quantities of
nitrogen and/or phosphorus directly to surface waters are:
 Fertiliser industry;
 Food and drink related industry, incl. dairy industry, soft drinks, wine production and brewing
industry; meat and fish processing, alcoholic beverages manufacture and bottling, manufacture
of fruit and vegetable products, manufacture of gelatine, production of yeast;
 Organic chemical and biochemical industry, incl. pharmaceutics, detergents industry,
manufacture of glue, production of industrial alcohol, manufacture or removal of ink;
 Waste processing industry, including manure processing industry;
 Pulp and paper industry;
 Cokeries and refineries; and
 Other sectors, such as non-ferrous metal industries that are considered to be of catchment related
or national importance.
In cases where an industrial plant belongs to more than one distinguished industrial sector and that it is
impossible to apportion the nitrogen and phosphorus discharge/emission of that plant to the various sectors,
the total nitrogen and phosphorus discharge/emission of the plant should be addressed to the main industrial
sector to which the plant belongs.
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HARP-NUT Guideline 3
2.2.
Quantification methods
2.2.1 Ideally, all industrial plants that discharge nitrogen and phosphorus should have a monitoring
programme. Practically it is necessary to ensure that at least the most important industrial plants as regards
nitrogen and phosphorus discharges have an adequate monitoring programme. Practical difficulties will arise
when there are small plants with small discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus. It will therefore, in many
cases, be necessary to agree on a ‘discharge limit figure’ for the purpose of distinguishing between
significant and less significant annual discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus. The ultimate aim is that the
catchment/national figures should provide comparable and transparent reports, and that the reported figures
are as complete as practically possible.
2.2.2 There are many different types of industrial sectors and plants. For the sake of transparency and
harmonisation, it is recommended that the ‘annual discharge limit figure’ be the same for all industrial
sectors with discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus. The monitoring requirements for industrial plants should
apply, as a minimum, to plants with discharges of the same order of magnitude as the equivalent discharges
from urban wastewater treatment plants. The Urban Wastewater Directive requires monitoring of nutrient
discharges for wastewater treatment plants with more than 10 000 p.e. connected, which corresponds to
44 tonnes N/year and 9 tonnes P/year before treatment. This indicates that all industrial plants with annual
discharges into surface waters after treatment exceeding
10 tonnes N/year
and/or
2 tonnes P/year
should monitor their discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus according to the sampling frequency referred to
in section 2.2.4. Furthermore all refineries and fertiliser plants should monitor their discharges of nitrogen
and phosphorus.
2.2.3 The sampling strategy should, for each plant and sector, be sufficient to ensure a reliable
quantification of the total nitrogen and phosphorus discharges. Where the production and/or wastewater
discharges vary significantly over the year, the sampling frequency and methods of assessment should be
adjusted correspondingly. Where the nutrient concentrations/discharges are relatively stable over the year,
less frequent monitoring may be adopted. However, the reasons for such a reduction in frequency should be
explained in the reporting.
2.2.4 All industrial plants discharging more than 10 tonnes of nitrogen and/or more than 2 tonnes of
phosphorus per year should, ideally, take 12 samples a year for measurements of nitrogen and phosphorus
content (c.f. section 2.2.3).
2.2.5 For industrial plants discharging less than the limits mentioned in section 2.2.2, relevant standard
discharge coefficients should be used in cases where no monitoring data is available. The determination of
such coefficients should be based on experience with discharges from larger plants that have monitoring
programmes, taking account of differences in the degree of internal treatment at the plants.
2.2.6 Whenever possible, the annual nitrogen and phosphorus load from industrial plants should be
calculated as the product of annual total quantity of wastewater and flow weighted concentrations; the three
ISO standard methods below are examples of such quantification procedures. The wastewater flow should be
measured continuously to calculate the total quantity over a specified time period (day, month and year). The
three methods described below are examples of :
 Continuous flow measurement and sampling;
 Continuous flow measurement and non-continuous sampling; and
 Flow measurements only on sampling days and sampling rather seldom.
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HARP-NUT Guideline 3
1.
Continuous flow measurement and sampling (e.g. 24 hours flow-weighted composite samples
seven times/week). The annual nutrient load is then the cumulative load of continuously
monitored time periods and can be calculated as follows:
n
L   Qi * C t
i l
Where
L : annual load
Qi : wastewater volume of period i
Ci : flow weighted concentration of period i
n : number of sampling periods.
2.
Continuous flow measurement and non-continuous sampling every second day, once a week or
twice a month (preferably as 24 hour composites). The annual nitrogen and phosphorus load can
then be calculated as follows:
n
L

Qi * Ci
i l
* Qt
n

Qi
i l
Where
L : annual load
Qi : wastewater volume of the period i
Ci : concentration of sample i
Qt : total wastewater volume of the year
n : number of sampling periods.
3.
Flow measurements only on sampling days and sampling rather seldom i.e. 1 - 12 times/year. In
this case the annual nitrogen and phosphorus load can be calculated by multiplying the average
load of sampling days by 365.
n
L

Qi * Ci
i l
n
*365
Where
L : annual load
Qi : wastewater volume on sampling day i
Ci : concentration of the period i
n : number of sampling days.
3.
Reporting
3.1
The nutrient discharges from industrial plants should be reported on a sector by sector and catchment
by catchment basis. This will enhance comparability of quantification methods, transparency of reporting,
effectiveness of national planning and implementation of measures. For the sake of transparency and
comparability, a description of any deviations from the recommended quantification methods should be
notified on a catchment by catchment basis.
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HARP-NUT Guideline 3
4.
Future Line of Action
4.1
Best Available Technology (BAT) descriptions for system categories referred to in appendix I of the
IPPC Directive are being developed in the EC framework. A recommendation to the Commission on
reporting procedures from the industrial sectors (Committee of Article 19 of the IPPC Directive) is expected
to be ready in 2000. This may require a revision of the Guideline.
5.
References
EC, 1991. EEC Council Directive of 21 May 1991 concerning Urban Wastewater Treatment (91/271/EEC,
Waste Water Directive)
EC, 1996. Council Directive of 24 September 1996 concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
(Directive 96/61/E; IPPC Directive)
OSPAR, 1996. Principles of OSPAR’s Comprehensive Study on Riverine Inputs and Direct Discharges
(RID)
HELCOM, 1997. Guidelines for the Third Pollution Load Compilation (PLC-3). Baltic Sea Environment
Proceedings No. 57.
HELCOM, 1997. Draft guidelines for PLC-4.
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6.
HARP Reporting Format
Catchment
(No. and name)
Industrial sector
Tot N discharge in tonnes/year
Accuracy
(+/- %)1
Coastal areas
Dir
No 1
No 1
No 1
No 1
No 1
No 1
No 1
Sum catchment 1
Pulp and paper industry
Fertiliser industry
Food and drink related industry
Org. chemical and biochemical industry
Waste processing industry
Cokeries and refineries
Other sectors
All sectors
National figures
National figures
National figures
National figures
National figures
National figures
National figures
Total coastal-/fresh-water
National figures2
Pulp and paper industry
Fertiliser industry
Food and drink related industry
Org. chemical and biochemical industry
Waste processing industry
Cokeries and refineries
Other sectors
All sectors
Inland waters
Mon
Unmon
Tot P discharge in tonnes/year
Accuracy
(+/- %)1
Coastal areas
Inland waters
Dir
Mon
Unmon
To Summary Reporting Format in Guideline 1
1
Best possible indication based on national experience. A reference to where further information on methods used should be given in the next column.
2
Sum of the figures from all the catchments/coastal areas
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Catchment
(No. and name)
No 1
No 1
No 1
No 1
No 1
No 1
No 1
Sum catchment 1
National figures
National figures
National figures
National figures
National figures
National figures
National figures
Industrial sector
Number of
industrial
plants
Description of alternative
method(s) or deviations from
the standard methods used,
and assessment of their
comparability with the
recommended methods
Pulp and paper industry
Fertiliser industry
Food and drink related industry
Org. chemical and biochemical
industry
Waste processing industry
Cokeries and refineries
Other sectors
All sectors
Pulp and paper industry
Fertiliser industry
Food and drink related industry
Org. chemical and biochemical
industry
Waste processing industry
Cokeries and refineries
Other sectors
To Implementation Format
in Guideline 1
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