Nearly half of Korean universities with laboratories have taken advantage of loopholes in supervision and broken wastewater discharge regulations, with some releasing toxic chemicals, the Ministry of Environment said Wednesday.

The ministry and local governments conducted an inspection of wastewater disposal at 215 universities across the country between March 20 and April 2.

The inquiry found that 105 universities, or 49 percent, have dumped contaminants which were either unauthorized or in excess of levels permissible by the Water Quality and Ecosystem Conservation Act.

They include top universities such as Seoul National, Yonsei and Korea universities and KIST.

Eight universities were found to have released banned materials that can cause cancer and other illnesses and endanger ecological systems, the ministry said.

Of the cases, 96 percent involved releases of materials which were not included by the labs’ prior reports to the regulators. Discharges exceeding permitted levels accounted for 4 percent.

The ministry said schools and governments failed to conduct appropriate supervision. The last wastewater inspection of universities by local governments was held in 1992.

“College laboratories were able to escape inspections through the years because of the local and central authorities’ somewhat generous attitudes toward educational institutes,” said Kim Byung-hoon, the ministry’s deputy director.

He added that there is no government agency that can intervene in or prosecute school polluters when municipal governments fail to act.

The ministry plans to request provincial governments to take action against those universities. Local authorities could levy fines up to 10 million won ($8,800), or order the suspension of those facilities responsible for serious violations.

By Suk Gee-hyun  (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)