After Binh Duong Newspaper’s report on the case of “Untreated wastewater discharge in a cemetery”: A business was fined 300 million VND

From information reported by Binh Duong Newspaper about untreated wastewater located in the cemetery on 22-12 Street (Thuan Giao Ward, Thuan An City), the authorities inspected and discovered an enterprise that violates the field of environmental protection.

Quickly check and process

In early December 2023, Binh Duong Newspaper reported on the discovery of an underground sewer system in an empty lot with the end point being a drainage ditch in the cemetery on December 22 Street. (Thuan Giao ward, Thuan An city). Immediately afterwards, Binh Duong newspaper reporter transferred information and images related to the incident to the leaders of Thuan An City People’s Committee for verification and handling according to authority.

After Tellbe Company corrected its environmental violations, the water from the company flowing into the drainage ditch in the cemetery on 22-12 Street no longer has the color like “rice water”.

Receiving the information, leaders of Thuan An City People’s Committee requested the Chairman of Thuan Giao Ward People’s Committee to direct the functional forces to verify the waste source to take treatment measures according to regulations. Through review, the People’s Committee of Thuan Giao ward found that around the waste discharge point area in the cemetery, there is Tellbe Vietnam Company Limited (referred to as Tellbe Company) with the business of processing iron, steel and wood. After that, the People’s Committee of Thuan Giao ward coordinated with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Thuan An City to inspect the implementation of legal regulations on environmental protection for this company. Through inspection, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Thuan An City found that Tellbe Company had a number of violations in the field of environmental protection, so it advised the City People’s Committee to request the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee to sanction administrative violations.

On March 27, the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee issued Decision No. 765/QD-XPHC on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of environmental protection against Tellbe Company (referred to as Decision 765). Accordingly, the company committed an administrative violation: “Construction, installation of equipment, pipes or other waste lines to discharge untreated waste into the environment”.

Specifically, Tellbe Company generates wastewater from the cleaning and cooling process of machinery that is collected into the discharge pipe into the environment (this wastewater is not collected into the wastewater treatment system). The company also has the behavior of “Discharging wastewater in excess of technical regulations 10 times or more, in cases of discharging waste from 10m3/day (24 hours) to less than 20m3/day (24 hours). According to the test results on wastewater sample No. 370/KQ-TTQTKT dated January 30, 2024 of the Center for Monitoring – Technical Resources and Environment of Binh Duong province, the wastewater sample has the parameter total phosphorus (calculated). according to P) exceeds 25.23 times compared to current regulations.

For the above two violations, Tellbe Company was administratively fined with a total amount of 300 million VND. Regarding additional penalties, Tellbe Company was deprived of the right to use its environmental license for 135 days (from the date of receiving the penalty decision) to correct violations; At the same time, forcing the demolition of wastewater collection pipes from the cleaning and cooling stages of machinery discharged into the environment at the location of the violation and measures to overcome environmental pollution must be taken within 30 days. (from the date of receiving the sanctioning decision). Specifically, Tellbe Company’s wastewater treatment must ensure it meets prescribed standards before being discharged into the environment.

Check remediation

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Uy, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Thuan An City, said that immediately after receiving Decision 765, the People’s Committee of Thuan An City issued a document assigning the City Department of Natural Resources and Environment to monitor and inspect the compliance with the decision. Administrative fine of Tellbe Company. At the same time, the City People’s Committee also requested the People’s Committee of Thuan Giao ward to preside over and coordinate with relevant sectors to review, inspect, and handle according to their authority administrative violations in the fields of land and construction. construction (if any) for the individual who has leased land use rights to Tellbe Company.

However, as of April 15, Tellbe Company has not yet implemented remedial measures according to Decision 765. Wastewater flows from the underground sewer system, with the starting point from the company’s factory and the other point. At the end is a drainage ditch located in the cemetery on 22-12 Street. After receiving the above information, the People’s Committee of Thuan Giao Ward coordinated with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Thuan An City to conduct a field inspection. By the afternoon of the same day, the wastewater flowing out of the underground sewer system from Tellbe Company, whose end point was a drainage ditch located in the cemetery on 22-12 Street, was no longer the same color as “rice water”.

NGUYEN HAU