Yuen Long Landmark at Castle Peak Road in Yuen Long discharged sub-standard wastewater and its property management company, Kai Shing Management Services Limited, was fined $15,000 at Fanling Magistrates' Courts today (June 12) for contravening the Water Pollution Control Ordinance (WPCO).
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) enforcement team carried out a blitz inspection last December and found that turbid wastewater was being discharged from the grease trap of Yuen Long Landmark. The EPD officers then collected a wastewater sample for analysis and the result showed that the oil and grease in the wastewater exceeded the WPCO licence limit by nearly one fold. After evidence gathering, the EPD initiated prosecution against the licensee, Kai Shing Management Services Limited, in accordance with the WPCO.
An EPD spokesman reminded all wastewater discharge licensees, including property management companies, that they must properly repair and maintain wastewater treatment facilities and strictly adhere to the discharge standards as stipulated in the licence to prevent environmental pollution. The spokesman said that when waste oil and grease are discharged to the sewers, they will accumulate inside the sewer pipes and lead to blockage of public sewers downstream, which can adversely affect the normal operation of the Government's sewage treatment plants.
Under the WPCO, anyone who discharges commercial or industrial wastewater which exceeds the standard of the discharge licence into communal sewers commits an offence. First-time offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and six months' imprisonment.
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