Groundwater Quality Assessment around Tanneries at Tiruchirappalli, India
Water as a resource, fundamental amenity and universal solvent is shared by inhabitants. The tanning industry is one of the oldest industries in India. The tanning industry is an especially large contributor of pollutants to water resources. Concentration of pollutants more than their permissible limits in potable water leads to health problems, such as water-borne diseases like fluorosis, typhoid, jaundice, cholera, premature baby and other problems, especially in infants. The water samples were taken from the villages Sembattu and Gundur and there are twelve numbers of tanneries working in this area. Various physicochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, chloride (Cl), total hardness CaCO3 (TH), nitrate (NO3), sulphate (SO4) and alkalinity have been analysed. In the analyses, chloride and hardness content in groundwater were on higher side compared with Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) and World Health Organization (WHO) standards but the level of sulphate was within permissible limit. It is evident that groundwater quality is gradually getting deteriorated and it may deteriorate further with time. The results envisaged that the quality of groundwater around tanneries areas is poor, and is not suitable for drinking purpose and can only be used after proper treatment.
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