J. K. Parmar1 and N. M. Zalawadia
Abstract
Sugar mills play a major role in polluting the water bodies and land by discharging a large amount of wastewater as effluent. The sugar mill effluents are having high amount of suspended solids, dissolved solids, BOD, COD, chloride, sulphates, nitrates, calcium and magnesium. The bio-methanated distillery spentwash from the Shri Bileshwar Khand Udyog Khedut Sahakari Mandli Ltd, Kodinar, has been applied in farmers field, particularly in dry season, as a source of plant nutrients and irrigation water. The impact of spentwash application on groundwater quality was assessed in areas previously applied with the distillery spentwash. The ground waters samples were collected from open wells near the spent wash applied fields contained large amount of salts, particularly Na+ and Cl- suggesting that the water contamination may be due to the ingress of saline water as well as application of distillery spentwash. Most of the samples were found unsuitable for irrigation purpose as they have shown greater potential for salinity hazards.