SINGAPORE - Tat Seng Packaging Group, which was fined $12,000 for discharging copper-tainted water above the allowable limit, said it views the matter seriously and has looked into ways of minimising the impact of waste water discharged into the environment.

"We regret the unfortunate incident where widely adopted waste water treatment procedures did not meet the standards required," said company secretary Chew Kok Liang in a statement posted on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Tuesday (March 20).

He added that the company is working closely with waste water treatment equipment vendors and has recently installed "advanced equipment" to enhance its waste water management practices.

The company was fined $12,000 in January for three counts of violating the Sewerage and Drainage (Trade Effluent) Regulations, national water agency PUB said on Monday.

It had illegally discharged copper-tainted water that exceeded the allowable limit by as much as three times in September 2016.

Between 2012 and 2015, the company had been caught four times for discharging toxic industrial used water.