Gyeonggi-do Cracks Down on 12 Sites for Illegal Wastewater Discharge

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has identified 12 companies that illegally discharged wastewater.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Metropolitan Environmental Management Office announced on the 3rd that from the 16th to the 27th of last month, it conducted a joint public-private special inspection targeting 50 companies located along major rivers in the Siheung and Ansan areas, together with related organizations such as the Korea Water Resources Corporation and the Siwaho Sustainable Partnership Association, and found 12 business sites violating the Water Environment Conservation Act.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the province switched from the existing face-to-face guidance inspections to patrol and surveillance methods. Accordingly, the inspection was conducted in a reverse-tracing manner, starting from the stormwater inlets in the Banwol and Siwha industrial complexes, passing through road manholes, and ending at manholes within the business sites.

The investigation revealed 14 violations across 12 companies, including ▲ one case of operating an unauthorized (unreported) wastewater discharge facility, ▲ five cases of illegal wastewater discharge, ▲ seven cases exceeding wastewater discharge standards, and ▲ one case of water pollution in public water bodies.

Among the violations, Company A located in the Siwha Industrial Complex discharged wastewater containing phenol, a specific water quality hazardous substance, at levels exceeding the standard by more than 70,000 times into the stormwater pipe, citing mechanical failure as the reason. Company B, a plating company, discharged wastewater containing hexavalent chromium, another specific water quality hazardous substance, outside its storage tank.

Additionally, companies operating unreported cleaning facilities or illegally discharging wastewater containing total phosphorus exceeding the standard by 18 times were also identified.

The province imposed penalties on the 14 violations, including total suspension of use (1 company), suspension of operations (7 companies), and improvement orders (5 companies).

Furthermore, three serious violations (including illegal wastewater discharge) were referred to the prosecution for investigation.

The province also took fundamental improvement measures at suspected leakage points caused by structural problems such as damaged sewage pipes, deploying equipment such as excavators and CCTV to excavate business sites and roads, close unidentified pipelines, replace sewage pipes, and collect unidentified wastewater.

Kang Jung-ho, head of the Gyeonggi Provincial Metropolitan Environmental Management Office, emphasized, "This special inspection was conducted in a way that minimizes face-to-face contact to prepare for potential lapses in environmental monitoring during the COVID-19 crisis. We will continue to raise awareness among businesses through special inspections and public water body monitoring and will relentlessly pursue and strictly punish illegal actors."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.