Impact of dairy effluent on environment—a review

Abstract

Dairy industry is among the most polluting of the food industries in regard to its large water consumption. Dairy is one of the major industries causing water pollution. Considering the increased milk demand, the dairy industry in India is expected to grow rapidly and have the waste generation and related environmental problems are also assumed increased importance. Poorly treated wastewater with high level of pollutants caused by poor design, operation or treatment systems creates major environmental problems when discharged to the surface land or water. Various operations in a dairy industry may include pasteurization, cream, cheese, milk powder, etc. The dairy industry handles large volumes of milk and the major waste material from processing is the water. The water removed from the milk can contain considerable amounts of organic milk products and minerals. In addition cleaning of plant, results in caustic wastewater. This review article discusses the impact of wastewater released in the environment, methods to minimise the amount of both the organic and inorganicmaterial in the wastewater and waste water treatment.