A bill has been introduced into the government to introduce criminal liability for the destruction, damage or rendering of water supply and sewerage systems unusable. The document was received by TASS on April 17.
The author of the legislative initiative was the head of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy Andrei Kutepov.
“The current version of Part 1 of Article 215.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal liability for unauthorized connection to oil pipelines, oil product pipelines and gas pipelines, committed by a person subjected to administrative punishment for a similar act. The draft federal law proposes to supplement the indicated corpus delicti with the corresponding provisions on punishment for the same act committed against centralized water supply and sewerage systems, ”the document says.
For the commission of this crime, it is proposed to impose sanctions in the form of a fine of up to half a million rubles or imprisonment for up to five years.
The author of the initiative explains the need to toughen the punishment for this unlawful action by an increased risk for the environment, sanitary and epidemiological well-being, life and health of people.
“Damage to sewerage facilities, leakage from sewage systems of wastewater or provocation of emissions into the atmospheric air containing an increased concentration of pollutants can cause serious environmental harm. Damage to water supply facilities, water supply networks can deprive the population of a vital resource, ”writes Kutepov.
In addition, the bill proposes to supplement Article 175 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Acquisition or sale of property knowingly obtained by criminal means”) with a new qualifying feature – crimes against elements of equipment of centralized water supply and sanitation systems.
In early April, Kutepov also sent a bill to the government that would tenfold increase the upper threshold of fines for legal entities for violating sanitary and epidemiological requirements for drinking water. As noted in the document, this should help improve the quality of drinking water supply to the population and reduce the number of related violations.