Facts
The case concerns a heating oil leakage that, due to a defect in the tank supply line during refilling in a household, entered the sewer system and ultimately the wastewater treatment plant. The tanker driver, S., was initially acquitted by the District Court of Baden, as sewers and wastewater treatment plants are not considered waters within the meaning of the Water Protection Act (GSchG), according to the High Court of the Canton of Aargau. The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Aargau subsequently filed a nullity appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that the term "waters" in the GSchG is to be understood more narrowly than the general concept of water. It only covers water as part of the natural water cycle, but not water that has been removed from this cycle and directed into sewers or wastewater treatment plants to protect the natural biological conditions of the water balance from pollution. Therefore, sewers and wastewater treatment plants are not covered by the water protection provisions of the GSchG.
While the introduction of a water-polluting substance into a sewage system or a wastewater treatment plant may be punishable as indirect water pollution under Art. 37 para. 1 sentence 1 GSchG if the substance subsequently enters an open body of water, in the present case, the escape of the heating oil from the wastewater…