ANNOUNCEMENTS
This paper focuses on the Best Available Cleaner Technologies (BACTs) practiced to reduce effluent in tanneries their environmental benefits and challenges in adoption or after the adoption of cleaner technologies in the Kanpur-Unnao leather cluster. Wastewater generated from tanneries of the Kanpur-Unnao leather cluster is a serious threat not only to the River Ganga and other nearby water bodies but also to groundwater, agriculture, human’s and animal’s health. Wastewater generated from tanneries is creating a serious warning to riverside communities by contaminating groundwater and polluting the surface water with heavy toxic chemicals that are used in leather making. Groundwater is being used by the tanneries for processing the rawhides and skins, and the wastewater generated from the tanneries is discharged into the river Ganga and used by downstream villages for agriculture. The utilization of harmful chemicals, heavy metals in tannery operations, and toxic waste from industries have already hit the Ganga River’s water purifying capacity. The main focus of the paper is to find out the Best Available Cleaner Technologies (BACTs) practiced to reduce effluent in tanneries and their environmental benefits and to find out the challenges and scope of reuse of tanneries’ solid waste & treated water. A comprehensive study of performance evaluation for the Primary Effluent Treatment Plant (PETP) of a major Tannery in the Kanpur-Unnao leather cluster is taken into consideration because the huge population of Kanpur and Unnao is dependent on the River Ganga for many services (for agriculture, domestic and industrial purposes) and tanneries effluent is merging with “MA Ganga” which is affecting the river’s ecological health.. This is a literature and survey-based study to identify the clean and green technologies and challenges in adoption & operating the same in leather manufacturing processes and the Primary Effluent Treatment process and evaluation of a Primary Effluent Treatment plant of a tannery.
KEYWORDS: BACTs, Effluent, Environmentally pleasant, Challenges, Solid waste.
