A company was fined $40,000 by Fanling Magistrates’ Courts today after its factory was caught for discharging industrial wastewater illegally, contravening the Water Pollution Control Ordinance.

The company, Yau Sang Galvanizing (Hot-Dip) Company, was convicted of the same offence in June and was fined $15,000 then.

Last December, Environmental Protection Department officers found the factory, located in Yuen Long Industrial Estate, did not deliver wastewater to its sewage treatment facility for proper treatment.

Instead, the industrial wastewater was being directly discharged into the communal sewer.

Another inspection of the factory by the department in January found no improvement. Industrial wastewater containing zinc and iron was being discharged into storm drains, polluting nearby rivers and waters.

The Environmental Protection Department will closely monitor the operation of the factory and take enforcement action whenever irregularities are found.

It also reminded the trade to take measures to prevent the discharge of untreated wastewater into storm drains.