August 9, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities for the environment conducted a scheduled inspection of Kamensk-Uralsky Metallurgical Plant (KUMZ) and detected some grave violations of the law, the press service for Ural Federal District division of the General Prosecutor's Office reports.

The inspection revealed that the plant, which is using the local water resources, has been dumping manufacturing water into the River Iset and Volkovskoye Reservoir; now the amount of pollutants dumped actually exceeds the legal limits. A number of lab tests showed that the maximum permissible discharge of mineral products was exceeded by 18 to 38 times, that of nitrite ion was exceeded by up to 12 times, that of iron and aluminum was exceeded by up to 3 times.

The public prosecution authorities took legal action against KUMZ management, with charges of violating the water bodies protection regulations. Ural Federal District division of Rosprirodnadzor (the state environmental watchdog) made the culprits face administrative liability and imposed a 43,000 RUR worth of fines on them.

To make sure the maximum permissible discharge of pollutants in the manufacturing water the enterprise is dumping stays within limits, KUMZ started some reconstruction jobs at its filtering and purification facilities. The reconstruction is expected to be completed by 2016.