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1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . Name Degree I.D No Subject Date of joining Title of research project Duration Location : Kamble Abhijeet Shankar : M.Sc (Environmental Sciences) : 08-610-003 : Environmental Sciences : 26.07.2008 : Impact of mixed treated tannery effluent along with domestic wastewater irrigation and soil amendments on crops. : One years : Department of Environmental Sciences, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 3.
OBJECTIVES 1. Characterization of mixed treated tannery effluent and domestic wastewater. 2. To evaluate the ameliorative efficiency of suitable amendments on soil under incubation experiments. 3. To assess the suitability of mixed treated tannery effluent and domestic wastewater as a irrigation source through phytotoxicity test.
INTRODUCTION Leather production is a major industry in India which makes a significant contribution to the countrys foreign exchange earning and provides employment
opportunity to about 3 million people (Suganya and Selvaseelan, 2009). It is estimated that 30-35 L of water is used per kilogram of leather processing; it generates huge quantity of effluent daily, which contains appreciable amount of plant nutrients. During the process of leather making several chemicals like Cr(SO4)3, NaCl, Ca(OH)2, H2SO4, etc., are extensively used. Therefore the resultant effluent is enriched with chromium (Cr) and salts (NaCl and SO4). Indiscriminate disposal of chemicals rich tannery effluent resulted extensive degradation of productive agriculture land surface and groundwater. The salts of tannery effluent are diluted when this wastewater was mixed with domestic wastewater for irrigation. Domestic wastewater mostly comprises of organic materials without any toxic chemicals. However wastewater resulted from mixing of tannery and domestic sewage often contains considerable amount of contaminants such as heavy metals and organic toxicants that can accumulate and persist in soil, including potential risk to soil ecosystem, crop productivity and human health. At this point the treated tannery effluent along with domestic wastewater used for crop production process has attracted a great deal of attention in disposing industrial wastewaters because of its versatility and environmental compatibility. This process has been shown to be an effective and reliable technology that provides an environmentally compatible method for reducing a large variety of pollutants. Nevertheless it requires detailed studies on the mixing ratio of tannery and domestic wastewater, its effect on soil health, soil-plant relationship and environmental quality. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Characteristics of tannery effluents The tannery effluent contained large concentration of valuable nutrients such as Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Pottassium(K), that will increase not only crop production, but also the root development and amount of residues left in the field (Nava, 1997). The tannery effluent was characterized by a high electrical conductivity (EC) of 37.1 dS m-1. Total N content of 2.1 g kg-1 and total P of 36 mg kg-1 (Contreras-Ramos et al., 2004). It also contains large amounts of Cr, pathogen and toxic organic components; all of which pose serious threats to the environment (Sinha et al., 2002). More number of coliforms were detected in the tannery effluent. No Salmonella sp. or Shigella sp. were
detected, but eggs of helminthes, presumably Ascaris lumbricoides according to their size (6345 lm) were detected (Contreras-Ramos et al. 2004). Characteristics of domestic wastewater Urbanization and industrialization increases the environmental pollution due to disposal of city waste, sewage water and industrial effluents. Research on reuse of domestic wastewater and industrial effluents in agriculture is gaining importance in this momentum as they are the important sources of nutrients (Zalawadia and Raman, 1994) that could be used similar to fertigation on proper dilution to various crops of agriculture. Orhon et al. (1997) reported the values of major parameters of wastewater as chemical oxygen demand - 410 mg L-1, biological oxygen demand -180 mg L-1, suspended solids - 210 mg L-1 and 7.2 mg L-1 for total Phosphorus. Effects of tannery effluent on soil characteristics Alvarez-Bernal et al. (2006) studied the effects of tannery effluent on soil chemical and biological characteristics. Irrigation with wastewater for over 25 years had significantly increased the electrolytic conductivity, organic C and total N content. There is no adverse impact on soil characteristics and microbial biomass, but the oxidation of NO2- was inhibited indicating that the biological functioning of the soil might be affected. The increase in heavy metal concentration in soil was limited, but continued irrigation with tannery wastewater might increase sodicity and salinity that could deteriorate soil and pose a threat to future crop production. Shi et al. (2002) reported that Cr and Pb decreased microbial activities and led to the accumulation of soil organic C and that Pb posed greater stress to soil microbes than Cr. Groundwater contamination by tannery effluent Mondal et al. (2005) found that the overexploitation of groundwater in some parts of the country induces water quality degradation. The untreated industrial effluents discharged on the surface causes severe groundwater pollution in the industrial belt of the country. This poses a problem of supply of hazard free drinking water in the rural parts of the country. The untreated effluents from the tanneries have considerably affected the
quality of groundwater. It is found that the quality of groundwater is deteriorated mainly due to extensive use of salt in the leather industries. Stuart and Milne (2001) studied the groundwater risk from wastewater irrigation using high Cr tannery effluent and found that Cr is accumulated in soils. Soil Cr concentrations correlate well with age of wastewater irrigation. Chromium concentrations in groundwater remain low and it must be effectively attenuated by the soil. Elevated conductivities in shallow polluted water are mainly due to sodium chloride residues from skins preserved in salt prior to tanning. The restriction of elevated Cr concentrations in groundwater to the edge of the irrigated area close to a Cr ore processing plant (Armienta et al., 1997). Chromium from irrigation water is accumulating in agricultural soils lagoon and canal sediments but groundwater appears to be unaffected and Cr concentrations remain low. Impact of domestic wastewater on soils Yadav et al. (2002) studied the post-irrigation impact of domestic wastewater on composition of soils, crops and groundwater. The study concluded that long-term irrigation with domestic wastewater adds large amounts of carbon, major and micronutrients to the soil. Compared the spatial distribution of N, P, K and other micronutrients and toxic elements in the top 0.6 m of an alluvial soil along with their associated effects on the composition of crops and groundwaters after about three decades of irrigation with domestic wastewater as a function of distance from the disposal point. Use of wastewater for irrigation in various proportions improved the organic matter and fertility status of soils especially down to a distance of 1 km along the disposal channel. Build up in total N, available P, total P, available K and total K in surface soil. Vertical distribution of these parameters also varied, with most accumulations occurring in surface. Traces of NO3N, Pb and Mn could also be observed in well waters near the disposal point thus indicating initiation of groundwater contamination. However, the contents of heavy metals in crops sampled from the area were below the permissible levels. Though the study confirms that the domestic wastewater can effectively increase water resource for irrigation but there is a need for continuous monitoring of the concentrations of potentially toxic elements in soil, plants and ground water.
Rattan et al. (2005) concluded that the use of wastewater and other industrial effluents for irrigating agricultural lands is on the rise particularly in peri-urban areas of developing countries. On the other hand, there is increasing concern regarding the exceedance of statutory and advisory food standards for trace metals throughout the world. The soil pH dropped as a result of sewage irrigation. Sewage irrigation for 20 years resulted into significant build-up of DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Fe, Ni and Pb in sewage-irrigated soils, whereas Mn was depleted. Soils receiving sewage irrigation for 10 years exhibited significant increase in Zn, Fe, Ni and Pb, while only Fe in soils was positively affected by sewage irrigation for 5 years. Among these metals, only Zn in some samples exceeded the phytotoxicity limit. By and large, tissue metal concentrations in all the crops were below the critical levels of phytotoxicity. Wen-hua Liu et al. (2005) studied the impact of sewage irrigation on heavy metal distribution and contamination. Industrial and domestic effluents are either used or disposed of on land for irrigation purposes, which creates both opportunities and problems (Yadav et al., 2002). The opportunities of wastewater irrigation are that it provides convenient disposal of waste products and has the beneficial aspects of adding valuable plant nutrients and organic matter to soil (Liu and Xu, 2002; Horswell et al., 2003). However, metals in soils exert a decisive impact on the quality of soil and its use in food production. There has been an increase in public awareness of the hazards posed by contamination of the environment by toxic substances. Many investigations have been carried out because of the fears of the health and ecological effects caused by the contamination of terrestrial ecosystems with metals (Li et al., 1995; Caussy et al., 2003). Farming and forestry also contribute to the contamination of the environment by metals due to the use of fertilizers and pesticides. It is estimated that the contribution of metals from anthropogenic sources in soil is higher than the contribution from natural ones. The ameliorative efficiency of organic and inorganic amendments Amendments act as a vital remediational measures. Primarily the amendment microorganisms are found to be very effective to degrade the environmental contaminants in to less toxic forms.
Singaran (2000) reported that the composted coir pith significantly proved to be a better amendment for tannery effluent irrigation followed by pressmud, than the farmyard manure and gypsum. Increased hydraulic conductivity and removal of soluble salts by application of composted coir pith had been reported (Jagannathan et al. 1997). Baskaran et al. (2009) reported that green gram seedlings grow vigorously in the amendments mixed with sugar mill effluent polluted soil. Vermicompost has been reported to contain large number of nitrogen fixing, phosphate solubilizing and other beneficial microorganisms which have favourable effect on growth and yield of the plant. At the same time, the application of soil amendments improved the soil fertility and plant growth. Jayabalakrishnan (2007) found that the combined use of vermiculite along with pressmud or gypsum as amendments enhanced the nutrient status apart from providing with better physical and biological environment resulting in significant impact on various plant productivity parameters of sunflower in paper mill effluent irrigated soil. Howe and Wagner (1996) studied on effect of paper mill effluent irrigation and gypsum soil amendments on sodium accumulation. They concluded that the rate of gypsum application were associated with increasing rates of infiltration. The EC of the surface horizon increased with increasing gypsum application, but the sodium content of the surface horizon was not affected. This implies that the ratio of sodium to other salts was reduced primarily through the addition of calcium as opposed to the displacement and leaching of sodium. TECHNICAL PROGRAMME III. Semester Collection of literature Characterization of mixed treated tannery effluent and domestic sewage for physico-chemical properties Evaluation of the ameliorative efficiency of suitable amendments on soil under incubation experiments.
IV Semester Assessment of flora, fauna and microbial diversity Conducting pot culture studies for screening and selection of tree species, flower crops for the survival and establishment Documentation, data processing, thesis writing and submission
Signature of student
Approval of the Advisory committee: Particulars Chairman Dr. G. BALSUBRAMANIAN Associate Professor, Department of Environmental sciences, AC&RI, TNAU, Coimbatore 3. Members i. Dr. P. DORAISAMY, Professor & Head, Department of Environmental sciences, AC&RI, TNAU, Coimbatore 3. Dr. M. Md. AMANULLAH Professor, Department of Agronomy, AC&RI, TNAU, Coimbatore 3. Name Designation and Department Signature
ii.
Dean (SPGS)