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Electronics factory at Siu Lek Yuen in Sha Tin convicted again for excessive industrial wastewater discharge
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     ​Compass Technology Company Limited, located at Chiaphua Industries Building in Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, was caught again for discharging excessive industrial wastewater into a communal sewer. It was fined $10,000 by Fanling Magistrates' Courts today (December 4) for contravening the Water Pollution Control Ordinance (WPCO). The company committed the same offence in December last year and was convicted and fined $15,000 in June.
      
     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) spokesman said that enforcement officers conducted a follow-up inspection at the above factory in July this year and found that the concentration of copper in the industrial wastewater discharged from the factory still exceeded the WPCO licence by 2.3 times. After investigation and evidence gathering, the EPD initiated prosecution against the company again in accordance with the WPCO.
      
     The spokesman explained that electronic component manufacturing factories will generate wastewater with heavy metal. Factories must install appropriate wastewater treatment facilities and maintain their effective operation to ensure that the effluent discharge meets the discharge standards as set out in the wastewater discharge licence before discharging into communal sewers. If its heavy metals concentration exceeds the standards, it will affect the operation and effectiveness of microbial treatment processes in sewage treatment plants, which will pollute the environment.
      
     The EPD reminded all WPCO licensees that they should strictly adhere to the discharge standards of all pollutants as stipulated in the licence, and ensure proper operation of their wastewater treatment facilities. Anyone who discharges wastewater which exceeds the standard of the discharge licence commits an offence. Offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and six months' imprisonment.
 
Ends/Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Issued at HKT 15:50
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