Truck driver detained over water pollution
A garbage truck driver was detained for five months and fined 5,000 yuan (US$727) for illegally discharging garbage leakage into a rainwater well.
The driver, surnamed Zheng, worked for a cleaning company in an industrial park in Qingpu District where he had been responsible for taking garbage to a transfer station since 2016.
Zheng, whose truck was registered to transport dry garbage, had been warned twice by the station over the excess amount of leakage from the garbage he was carrying. One more warning and he would be denied access to the station.
The Shanghai Railway Transport Procuratorate said Zheng's solution was to discharge leakage from his truck into a well before taking the garbage to the station.
The leakage passed through the rainwater pipes into the river and affected the operation of a number of companies in the area. Surveillance camera footage showed that Zheng's truck had discharged leakage into the well between August 4 and 10 in 2018.
The companies contacted the police and environmental authority tests showed water collected from the well and the river contained toxic substances and excess amounts of chromium and lead.
Zheng was charged on January 22 with illegal discharge of sewage that had polluted the environment.
He was sentenced by Shanghai Railway Transport Court.
The environmental authority’s tests show that water samples collected from a rainwater well and the river contained toxic substances.
