Seoul City Conducts Special Environmental Pollution Surveillance During Lunar New Year Holiday...Prevents Unauthorized Discharges in Advance

Prevention-Focused Advance Publicity, Guidance, Surveillance, Patrol, and Intensive Inspection... Establishing a Pollution Report Response System

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 18th that it will conduct a "special surveillance of environmental pollution acts" targeting wastewater discharge facilities and rivers to prevent unauthorized discharge of pollutants during the Lunar New Year holiday period.

The surveillance period will last for 15 days from the 19th to the 2nd of next month, including the Lunar New Year holiday, when management and supervision tend to be lax. The surveillance activities will be carried out in two phases: before and during the holiday.

Until the 28th, before the holiday period, a focused inspection will be conducted on 144 key business sites in Seoul that discharge environmental pollutants. A total of 48 public officials from district offices will operate in 24 teams, patrolling and monitoring vulnerable discharge facilities suspected of unauthorized discharge.

The key inspection targets among wastewater discharge facilities include ▲malignant wastewater dischargers such as dyeing and plating businesses ▲large-volume wastewater dischargers ▲companies handling chemical substances and organic solvents. For wastewater discharge facilities such as car washes (1,614 sites), advance publicity and guidance activities will be conducted, and cooperation letters for voluntary inspections will be sent to encourage companies to self-check their pollutant discharge facilities.

During the Lunar New Year holiday, surveillance teams will be organized to prevent river pollution and will conduct patrol activities simultaneously. The teams, consisting of 58 public officials from the city and district offices in 43 groups, will focus on monitoring and patrolling water source areas, factory surroundings, rivers at risk of pollution, and vulnerable wastewater discharge facilities. Unauthorized wastewater discharge and other environmental pollution acts will be subject to legal action under the Water Environment Conservation Act.

Additionally, Seoul will establish a comprehensive situation room and operate district-level situation rooms to prepare for water pollution accidents. Citizens who discover environmental pollution acts can report them immediately by calling 120, and prompt responses will be made.

Kim Jae-gyeom, Director of the Water Circulation Policy Division of Seoul, said, "During the special surveillance period for the Lunar New Year holiday, we plan to prevent environmental pollution accidents through prevention-focused special surveillance activities." He added, "Active cooperation from citizens is necessary, including voluntary inspections by pollutant discharge facilities and immediate reporting when water pollution acts are discovered."