Police Conducted a Search and Seizure at Incheon Waterworks Headquarters During the 'Red Tap Water' Incident Photo by Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The prosecution has requested prison sentences for Incheon city officials who were put on trial for manipulating the turbidity meter at a water purification plant in connection with the 'red tap water' incident that occurred in Incheon in 2019.
According to the legal community on the 29th, at the recent sentencing hearing presided over by Judge Yoo Seungwon of the Criminal Division 5 at the Incheon District Court, the prosecution requested prison terms ranging from 4 months to 1 year for four Incheon city officials, including A (52, female), who were indicted on charges of electronic record forgery and falsification of official documents.
Two of the defendants, including A, have consistently denied the charges during the trial, stating, "There was absolutely no reason to instruct (staff) to switch the turbidity meter to 'repair' mode to hide (high) turbidity," and "We did not intentionally neglect our duties nor conceal any facts."
Another official admitted to the facts of the prosecution's allegations but claimed that they were acting under A's instructions.
The Incheon red tap water incident occurred on May 30, 2019, when the Seoul Pungnap Intake Station and Seongsan Pumping Station, which supply water to the Gongchon Water Purification Plant in Incheon, were shut down for electrical inspection, leading to a water system switch to supply water from nearby Susan and Namdong purification plants.
Normally, water is supplied to the Yeongjong area from the Gongchon Water Purification Plant by gravity flow, but during this water system switch, it was supplied under pressure in the reverse direction. During this process, water scale attached to the pipe walls fell off and was supplied along with sediment at the bottom of the pipes, affecting an estimated 261,000 households in the Gongchon Water Purification Plant's supply area and 635,000 people in Seo-gu, Ganghwa, and Yeongjong areas.
Four officials, including A, were non-detained indicted on the day of the red tap water incident for arbitrarily manipulating the turbidity meter measuring turbidity at the Gongchon Water Purification Plant during the water system switch.
Although the turbidity levels exceeded the accident standard of 0.5 NTU, they took no action and switched the turbidity meter to 'repair' mode, recording the turbidity level as 0.06 NTU in the water quality inspection log, according to investigations.
It was also found that three days after the incident, they again falsely recorded turbidity levels in the water quality inspection log using the same method.
Two of the defendants, including A, are currently working at Incheon city and its affiliated organizations, while the other two are known to be working at two water purification plants under the Incheon Waterworks Headquarters.
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