Abstract
The leather industry, besides being a major contributorto the Indian national economy, is unfortunately alsoone of the major polluters. The present articlediscusses the influence of the wastes on thephysicochemical characteristics of the Ganga water andsediments. Two sampling sites have been chosen atKanpur, the first before and the second after thepoint where tanneries are located. The samephysicochemical parameters which have been determinedin the wastes have been monitored at these two sitesfor two seasons. The results reveal that mostparameters increase as the river traverses betweenthese two points. The increase in values of parameterssuch as BOD, COD, Cl-, and total solids could bedue to the domestic wastes just as much as to thetannery wastes. Phenols and sulfides, can also comefrom other sources, but their probability of comingfrom tanneries is higher. However, chromium is oneparameter which can primarily be identified tooriginate from the tanneries. The speciation of thesediments for chromium reveals that the leakage ofchromium into the Ganga is taking place at the secondsite. There is almost a ten fold increase in chromiumat the second site as compared to the first. At thefirst site the surface chromium is primarily in theresidual fraction while at the second site it is inthe Fe–Mn oxide fractions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ajmal, M., Khan, M. A. and Nomani, Z. A.: 1987, ‘Monitoring of Heavy Metals in the Water and Sediments of the Ganga River, India', Water Sci. and Tech. 19, 107.
APHA: 1980, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 3rd Ed., Greenberg, A. E., Connors, J. J., Jenkins, D. and Franson, M. A. H. (eds.), APHA, Washington.
Central Pollution Control Board, CPCB Delhi: 1991, ‘Minimal National Standards for Tanneries', COIN D5/35/1991-92, CPCB Delhi.
Davis, A., Kempton, J. H. and Nicholson, A.: 1994, ‘Ground Water Transport of Arsenic and Chromium at a Historical Tannery, Wobur. I. Massachusetts, U.S.A.', Appl. Geochem. 9(5), 569.
Duncan, P. H. L. and Harrison, R. M.: 1981, ‘Cleaning Methods for Polythene Container Prior to Determination of Trace Metals in Fresh Water Samples', Anal. Chem. 53, 345.
Eye, J. D. and Lawrence, L.: 1971, ‘Treatment ofWaste from a Sole Leather Tannery', J. Wat. Pollut. Cont. Fed. 43, 2291.
Guruprasada Rao, M. and Nanda Kumar, N. V.: 1981, ‘Analysis of Irrigation Reservoirs Contaminated by Tanning Effluents', Indian J. Environ. Health 23, 239.
Guruprasada Rao, M. and Nanda Kumar, N. V.: 1982, ‘Impact of Tannery Effluents on Seed Germinability and Chlorophyll Content in Cicer Arietinum L.', Poll. Res. J. 2, 33.
Krishnakumar, A.: 1995, ‘Streams of Poison, Tannery Effluents Ruin Land and People', Frontline.
Modak, D. P., Singh, K. P., Chandra H. and Ray, P. K.: 1992, ‘Mobile and Bound Forms of Trace Metals in Sediments of the Lower Ganges', Wat. Res. 26(11), 1541.
Perin, G., Craboledda, L., Lucchese, M., Cirillo, R., Dotta, L., Zanette, M. L. and Orio, A. A.: 1985, ‘Heavy Metal Speciation in the Sediments of Northern Adriatic Sea. A New Approach for Environmental Toxicity Determination,’ in Lekkas, T. D. (ed.), Heavy Metals in the Environment, Vol. 2, CEP Consultants, Edinburgh.
Sakai, H., Kojima, Y. and Saito, K.: 1986, ‘Distribution of Heavy Metals in Water and Sieved Sediments in the Toyohira River', Wat. Res. 20, 559.
Saikia, D. K.: 1987, ‘Studies on the Sorptive Properties of Bed Sediments of River Ganges and Transport of Some Heavy Metal Ions', Ph. D. Thesis, Department of Chemistry, University of Roorkee, Roorkee, India.
Subramanyam, V., Grieken, R. V. and Vant, D. L.: 1987, ‘Heavy Metal Distribution in the Sediments of Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers,’ Env. Geol. Wat. Sci. 9(2), 93.
Tessier, A., Campbell, P. G. C. and Bisson, M.: 1979, ‘Sequential Extraction Procedure for the Speciation of Particulate Trace Metals', Anal. Chem. 51, 844.
TOI News Service: 1998, ‘Tanneries Continue to Pollute Ganga', Times of India, Late City Edition, p. 8, 18th March.
Trivedy, R. K. and Goel, P. K.: 1986, ‘Chemical and Biological Methods forWater Pollution Studies', Environmental Publication, Karad-India.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khwaja, A.R., Singh, R. & Tandon, S.N. Monitoring of Ganga Water and Sediments Vis-à-Vis Tannery Pollution at Kanpur (India): A Case Study. Environ Monit Assess 68, 19–35 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010790705006
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010790705006