The Hindu Business Line : New project to use domestic sewage to treat tannery effluent

LEATHER tanners and the municipal administrations of Ambur and Wallajah of North Arcot district, Tamil Nadu, will jointly implement a Rs 50-crore project for domestic sewage disposal and tannery effluent treatment.

Under the project, the domestic sewage will be used to dilute the tannery effluent to bring down the total dissolved solids (TDS) in the tannery effluent. This will help the leather industry to conform to environment norms laid down by the authorities.

According to Mr M. Mohamed Hashim, who heads the environment committee of the tanners associations in Tamil Nadu, the agreement was signed on Tuesday between the tanners' representatives and the authorities of the local administration.

The project, which is to commence within the financial year, will bring two benefits:

One a modern sewerage system in the two municipalities and two: A solution to the long-standing problem of high levels of dissolved solids in tannery effluent.

Under the project, the effluent from the tanneries would be diluted with the domestic sewage to bring down the TDS levels to conform to the norm of 2,100 mg a litre laid down by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. While the tanneries have set up common effluent treatment plants or individual treatment facilities, to treat the effluents, the TDS issue alone has been evading a solution till now, he said.

The cost of the two projects at Ambur and Wallajah, which will also cover Ranipet, will largely be funded through the National River Conservation Programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which will bring in over 70 per cent of the cost. The balance will be borne by the tanners and the municipalities.

The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board is the nodal agency for the project, he said.

The tanners are hoping to set up a special purpose vehicle to implement the project and for the operation and maintenance. This could be along the lines of the water supply and drainage project set up in Tiruppur.

The project could commence operations in two years, Mr Hashim said.

The leather industry is also opting for reverse osmosis, where possible, to handle the problem of TDS. Six tanneries in Vellore have set up reverse osmosis projects at a cost of Rs 1 crore-4 crore, and seven more are in the pipeline.

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