The Ministry of Natural Resources Energy and Mining has closed and fined the manufacturer of Kombucha Juice for disposing of untreated waste water into a river.
The ministry’s Environmental Affairs Department (EAD) has shut down Nutricom Food and Beverages Company Limited and has also fined the company K1 million.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the company’s continued disposal of untreated waste water into Chankhandwe River compromised the river’s water quality.
“The company also had maintained its stance of not having an industrial waste water pre-treatment plant before the effluent is discharged into the environment,” the ministry said adding that company’s conduct contravened Section 72 as read together with Section 42 of the Environmental Management Act (EMA) of 1996.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources has ordered the company to construct a properly designed waste water treatment plant approved by authorities, to submit a comprehensive environmental audit of its factory and to obtain a water abstraction permit for the borehole at the company’s premises.
The ministry has also warned other industrial institutions to comply with the provisions as provided for in the EMA in order to protect the environment as any reluctance or neglect will attract closure of the premise in question.
“Further the EAD, requests all those in any industrial operation to refrain from reckless discharge of any untreated wastewater into the environment as it is hazardous both to an individual’s health and that of all other living things including microorganisms in the soil,” the Ministry of Natural Resources said.
