A Chinese court today sentenced a moulding factory owner to one year in prison and slapped a fine of around USD 320 for discharging industrial wastewater into a flush toilet.
The owner, surnamed Xia, was fined around 2,000 yuan (USD 320) for posing a risk to the local environment, the People's Court of Ouhai District, Wenzhou City said.
Xia's moulding workshop did not have sewage treatment facilities installed. Instead, it collected the industrial wastewater with plastic buckets and disposed of the water, which contained heavy metals, in its flush toilet, the court said.
Xia's crime was made public by local environmental protection authorities after a regular check this August. They found the wastewater of the workshop contained heavy metals, such as chromium, copper, zinc and nickel, and all of them exceeded the national standards.
"The industrial sewage discharged by the workshop poses a risk to the local environment and residents. Its boss should be punished," a local law enforcement officer surnamed Ye in court said.
Heavy metal pollution poses a glaring risk to China's environment, despite a drop in the release of key heavy-metal pollutants in 2014.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection said it will review heavy metal pollution control next year and penalise localities that fail to meet the requirements.
