'Crackdown on Selfish Wastewater Discharge Sites During the Rainy Season'... Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Detect 23 Locations

The Gyeonggi-do Special Judicial Police Unit has uncovered 24 cases of illegal activities related to wastewater discharge at business sites during the rainy season.

Gyeonggi Province has uncovered a large number of businesses committing illegal activities such as discharging specific water quality hazardous substances into public water bodies or installing unreported wastewater discharge facilities during the heavy rains of the monsoon season.

The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police announced on the 6th that, after investigating 380 major wastewater discharge sites across 31 cities and counties in the province from July 1 to 31, they detected 24 illegal acts, including violations of the Water Environment Conservation Act, at 23 business sites.

Among the major cases uncovered, Company A was caught operating without reporting the necessary wastewater discharge facilities to the competent authorities during the process of molding waste plastics into pellets.

Company B was found to have dumped waste generated during the cleaning of dirty containers into a nearby public water body, an agricultural irrigation canal, outside the business premises.

Company C was caught operating without prior notification to the competent authorities to start operating wastewater discharge facilities such as car wash facilities and pollution prevention facilities that purify contaminants generated during washing.

Under the current Water Environment Conservation Act, installing unreported wastewater discharge facilities is punishable by imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine of up to 50 million KRW, and discharging specific water quality hazardous substances into public water bodies is punishable by imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine of up to 30 million KRW. Additionally, operating wastewater discharge facilities without prior notification is punishable by imprisonment of up to 1 year or a fine of up to 10 million KRW.

Ki Do, head of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police, stated, "We will conduct year-round investigations into illegal acts such as discharging specific water quality hazardous substances or wastewater into public water bodies to do our best to prevent water pollution. We plan to share confirmed violations and major cases with cities and counties to proactively respond to illegal activities."

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