Impact of sugar mills effluent on environment around mills area

Abstract

The discharge of untreated industrial effluents degraded water and soil, and the entire environment. The study aimed to evaluate the impacts of sugar mills effluent on the environment around the mills’ area. A total of 120 effluents, soils, and water samples were collected three times a year over two years to analyze the physicochemical parameters. A field survey also was conducted on two hundred households of fourteen villages of the two Upazila in Joypurhat District of Bangladesh. The survey observed that majority of the people have negative opinions regarding the impacts of sugar mills effluents on fish, crops, and human health life. The higher BOD5 level in the effluents indicated that the decline in DO that the bacteria consumed the available oxygen in the water leading to the inability of fish and other aquatic organisms to survive in the water body. The study observed that the concentrations of Fe3+, Mn2+, and Pb2+ were found higher than the standard permissible limit of DoE-BD (2003) indicating the severe environmental degradation occurred in the areas. The study observed that the surface water, groundwater, and soil were contaminated through the discharge of sugar mills untreated effluents severely degraded the environment of the areas.