China state media has reported the detention of three officials 7 June after industrial waste water containing 180 times the maximum safe level of zinc was discharged directly into a river in east China’s Zhejiang Province.
Three individuals, including a factory manager, will be charged with polluting the environment, according to an environmental official in the city of Linhai Saturday.
A plant manufacturing tools for auto repair was reported to be dumping unprocessed waste water into a waterway 50 meters away during an inspection in Linhai.
Inspectors said the waste water was a byproduct of metal polishing and surface treatment.
Those convicted of polluting the environment can be sent to prison for up to seven years.
Efforts to tackle water pollution in China reportedly remain uneven with some areas worsening in 2016, while heavy metals and other pollutants continued to accumulate in Chinese soil, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said.
In an annual report, Chen Jining, head of the MEP, told the National People’s Congress that overall air, water and soil pollutants had improved in 2016, NASDAQ reported last month…saying that China detained 720 people and received 33,000 tip-offs on environmental violations in 2016, and issued fines worth 440 million yuan ($64 million), according to this report.
In March 2016, Mongolian herders launched a three-day blockade of coal fields and a crushing station belonging to a copper-zinc mine at Bayanhuaa Industrial Zone to protest the loss of their traditional grazing lands and demand an end to mining pollution, which had affected water, soil and air in the area.
The blockade was suppressed by Chinese authorities.
Policy Pollution Water Quality Hangzhou