Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Conduct Intensive Crackdown on Illegal Wastewater Discharge at Knowledge Industry Centers

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is launching a crackdown on wastewater discharge facilities within knowledge industry centers.

The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police announced on the 20th that from the 4th to the 21st of next month, they will intensively crack down on unauthorized or unreported wastewater discharge facility operations and illegal wastewater discharges by companies within knowledge industry centers.

Knowledge industry centers, formerly known as "apartment-type factories," refer to multi-story collective buildings of three or more floors where six or more factories, including manufacturing, can be housed.

In particular, these knowledge industry centers are not easily exposed to the outside, making supervision and management of environmental violations weak.

Accordingly, last year, investigations were conducted on knowledge industry centers in four cities?Anyang, Seongnam, Bucheon, and Gunpo?resulting in eight cases being detected.

This year, the province has expanded the crackdown to 120 knowledge industry centers across nine cities: Suwon, Hwaseong, Anyang, Gunpo, Uiwang, Bucheon, Gimpo, Seongnam, and Hanam.

The main focus of the crackdown includes ▲ installation and operation of unauthorized or unreported wastewater discharge facilities ▲ illegal discharge of wastewater into public water bodies ▲ proper wastewater treatment ▲ operation of pollution prevention facilities, among others.

According to the current "Water Environment Conservation Act," installing wastewater discharge facilities without permission or operating such facilities can result in imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to 70 million KRW; improper operation of wastewater discharge and prevention facilities can lead to imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million KRW; and discharging or dumping specific harmful substances into public water bodies can result in imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million KRW.

Starting in September, the special judicial police plan to check water usage in knowledge industry centers to inspect companies suspected of installing unreported wastewater discharge facilities.

They will also analyze wastewater from unauthorized or unreported wastewater discharge businesses to verify the discharge of water pollutants and specific harmful substances. Based on the analysis results, violating companies will be referred to the prosecution, and the relevant authorities will be notified to enforce administrative measures such as closure orders, suspension of use, or imposition of excess discharge charges.

Kim Min-kyung, head of the province’s Special Judicial Police, stated, "We will take strict action against environmental crimes that harm the clean water environment, such as illegal wastewater discharge to reduce costs through unauthorized or unreported discharge facilities."

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