Plant owner jailed for discharging industrial sewage into flush toilet

A plant owner was sentenced to one year in prison for discharging industrial wastewater into a flush toilet, a court in east China's Zhejiang Province said Wednesday.

The owner, surnamed Xia, was also fined around 2,000 yuan (320 U.S. dollars) for posing a risk to the local environment, according to the People's Court of Ouhai District, Wenzhou City.

Xia's molding 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, said the court.

Xia's crime was exposed to the 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," said a local law enforcement officer surnamed Ye in court.

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 penalize localities that fail to meet the requirements. Endi