Companies and individuals could face a fine of up to 100,000
yuan (US$12,987) for discharging wastewater without licenses
starting next month, the Shenzhen government announced
yesterday.
Businesses, including wastewater treatment factories, and
individuals need to apply to the local environmental watchdog for
licenses before discharging sewage into rivers and other
government-funded drainage systems, the announcement said. The
license is valid for five years.
Wastewater treatment factories are forbidden to do shoddy work
or stop operation without government approval, or they will have to
pay a fine of between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan.
The city in south China's Guangdong Province launched tough
measures against the dumping of waste last September. Violators
were ordered to publish a letter of remorse in newspapers
apologizing for polluting the environment.
Seventeen Shenzhen companies were fined nearly 1.5 million yuan
for polluting the environment during the first quarter of this
year, the local environmental protection bureau said.
Most of the 17 companies were punished for discharging untreated
wastewater.
A computer manufacturer in Longgang District paid the highest
fine of 250,000 yuan, and four other factories were each fined
100,000 yuan and had their sewage discharge licenses suspended.
Improving the environment to increase residents' well-being is
one of this year's top 10 priorities for the Shenzhen government,
Mayor Xu Zongheng said in a March government work report delivered
at the local people's congress annual meeting.
(Shenzhen Daily June 21, 2007)