Pollutants and Water Management

Sugar mill effluents have a higher number of suspended solids, dissolved solids, BOD, COD, chloride sulfate, nitrates, calcium, and magnesium. The continuous use of these effluents harms crops when used for irrigation. As a result, a higher number of various elements are deposited in the soil, causing pollution.

Dumping of industrial discharge on any site causes leaching of heavy metals and toxic chemicals. This infiltrates through the soil profile into groundwater and hence contaminates groundwater quality.

Industrial pollution management in many developing countries is complicated by the fact that a large number of small‐scale units lack the capacity to mitigate emissions and follow regulations properly (Bansal 2018). Not only are these units restricted by their size, they often have inadequate technological expertise, face financial bottlenecks, and have limited managerial capacities. These features mean that effluent treatment is not feasible by individual units (Kathuria 2001). In addition, the costs associated with individual care will be prohibitive, thus making it impractical. Effluent treatment plants (ETPs) and common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) have been advocated as a cost‐effective alternative for meeting the requirements for small‐scale polluting units in industrial estates/sectors (Bansal 2018). A list of operational CETPs, with an online continuous effluent monitoring system (OCEMS) and zero liquid discharge (ZLD) units in India are listed in Table 3.3.

The first big move toward regulating industrial discharges was implemented in India in 1993–1994 with a priority action plan to classify polluting industries along rivers; they were ordered to install ETPs within three months or face closure (Rajaram and Das 2008). The outcome of this program was believed to be a considerable success.

Different bodies with different functions were also created at a central and state level related to groundwater for the conservation and management of water (Garg 2012). These included:

MoWR

River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)

Central Water Commission (CWC)

Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA)

CGWB

Ministry of Industry (MoI)

Table 3.3 Lists of operational effluent treatment plants, with an online continuous effluent monitoring system and zero liquid discharge units in some states.

Source: https://cpcbenvis.nic.in/cpcb_newsletters/PollutingIndustries.pdf.

However, it must be understood that the mere installation of ETPs in medium or large units without regular monitoring of millions of small‐scale units does not guarantee clean discharges. This is evident from the pollution of surface and groundwater around industrial areas. Specific factors including both legal and illegal processes that are responsible for the pollution of water bodies, even after ETPs and CETPs were installed (Maheshwari 2016), are shown in Figure 3.3.

In order to prevent these dangerous circumstances, it is advised that the authorities take legal or collective action on defaulters or handle drainage using creative approaches. To improve water resources quality, there are some legal actions and steps for enhancing existing treatment systems as follows (Afzal et al. 2018; Maheshwari 2016; Sharma et al. 2016):

Strict enforcement – closure or warning of units that do not meet the requirements or norms.

Restriction of water consumption/restriction of wastewater production.

Upgrade of individual ETPs. Figure 3.3 Factors responsible for the contamination of water resources.(Source: Based on Maheshwari 2016.)

Updating of CETPs and stricter CETP inlet/outlet specifications.

Most importantly, ETPs and CETPs should be operated by technicians or professionals.

National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) should be strictly enforced for industrial effluents.

Avoiding malpractice by authorities.

Periodic monitoring and evaluation processes should be there to ensure the proper functioning of CETPs and ETPs.

Poor coordination and regulation between different regulatory bodies lead to the improper management of industrial wastewater. Also, poor or sometimes ignored water tariffs and the provision of very rare incentives to industry owners if they are reuse water do not attract industry owners to undertake water abstraction minimization and water reuse maximization. This conflict between industry and local communities will become unmanageable if not addressed. Water control measures have not shown significant improvement because although different water bodies are made to regulate and monitor this issue, the powers assigned to these regulating bodies are not framed properly. For example, the MoWR is the principal agency responsible for water but no authority has been given to take action related to water pollution or for the industrial use of water. Similarly, the MoI focuses on the planning and development of water resources for industrial purposes, but it has no power to regulate and monitor water use by GPIs.

To meet discharge norms, wastewater treatment has been installed by industry. However, a common practice adopted by industry is to measure the pollution level in a given quantity of water to meet the required standard by diluting the effluent in freshwater. Second, reusing water from different production steps is not commonly followed, therefore, clear water is contaminated when discharged with effluent, but if water reusing technology is adopted, it is possible to reduce water pollution if water pricing encourages industries to conserve water.

With heavy industrialization and globalization, an awful impact on the environment arises. It is an unpleasant reality that even though industrialization increases employment opportunities, they also degrade the quality of the environment. Because of this increasing pollution, the entire spectrum of the environment including air, water, and the land is damaged, and it also has a cascading impact on all biotic and abiotic factors. However, in the process of industrialization, water plays a key role as it is used in almost all types of processes such as manufacturing, storage, energy, etc. Hence, the load on all water resources increases, both on humans and other living creatures. Industrialization also degrades the quality of water by discharging partially treated or untreated wastewater effluent into water bodies. Highly polluting industries like GPIs contribute more to water pollution. As a result of a lack of infrastructure and management, these industries release a lot of untreated wastewater into nearby water bodies where it mixes with harmful pollutants such as heavy metals, organic nonbiodegradable pollutants, inorganic pollutants, and so on. CPCB and state pollution control boards provide certain standards of discharged water that should be followed by all these GPIs, however, most of these industries do not comply with standards and they discharge partially treated polluted wastewater into various water bodies. Today, Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, and so on, are all major sources where water is turned into wastewater. The government and NGOs undertake various policies and actions to combat this situation and to clean water resources. They apply different treatment processes in these industries such as the ZLD method, ETPs, CETPs, the polluter pays principle, and OCEMS. Henceforth, if the previously mentioned actions are implemented and executed fairly, they may help to improve the environment and water resources. While this may seem like baby steps away from environmental degradation, these actions can help if implemented properly.