Groundwater Pollution by Textile Industry

I. Husain#, V. K. Vaidya*, J. Husain**, Rekha Vaidya* and C. S. Sharma*

¹Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Laboratory, Bhilwara-311 001, (India) ²Department of Chemistry, MLV Government College, Bhilwara-311 001 (India) ³Department of Chemistry, Alok Science PG College, Kekri-305 404 Ajmer, (India)

Chemical properties of 22 groundwater sources of 20 villages situated in the down stream of Banas river from textile industrial area of Bhilwara (the south west district of Rajasthan, India) was studied to find out impact of textile industry on groundwater and the suitability of the groundwater sources for drinking and irrigation purpose. The textile wastewater from 4 major textile industries and wastewater chennel Guwardi Nallah was analyzed for the characterization of textile wastewater. The wastewater contains high concentration of sodium, chloride and sulfate. Beside these major ions, concentrations of heavy metals were also recorded high enough. The impact on ground water is evaluated according to characteristics of textile wastewater and distance of source from industrial area. 12 sources (G2 to G13) of 10 villages, up to distance of 20km, were found to have maximum impact as represented by stiff diagram. The gound water of these villages contains high concentration of sodium, chloride and sulfate. Next 5 sources (G14 to G18) have less impact while 2 sources (G19 and G20) have very low impact and 3 sources (G1, G21 and G22) have no impact of textile industrial wastewater. The groundwater quality parameters were compared with indian Drinking Water Standard for their suitability for drinking purpose and only 4 sources (G1, G16, G18 and G19) were found potable for drinking purposes. The groundwater of only 3 sources (G1, G2 and G22)was found suitable for irrigation purpose while 4 sources (G4 to G7) were found unsuitable for irrigation purpose and the remaining sources are doubtful for irrigation purposes.

Textile waste charaterization; Groundwater pollution; Drinking water quality; Irrigation quality; Heavy metals