PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988-2001 1 Assessing pollution from tannery effluents in a South Indian village

Document begins: PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988­2001 1 Assessing pollution from tannery effluents in a South Indian village K. Anbalagan, G. Karthikeyan and N. Narayanasamy Introduction Dindigul town. PRA techniques were used in combination with well-established scientific water analysis techniques. The aim was to The leather industry is an important foreign analyse and understand the toxic effects of exchange earner for India. The states of Tamil tannery effluents on agriculture and the day-to- Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh together day life of people in Kamatchipuram village. have 88 percent of the tannery units of the country. Tanners use a large number of chemicals during the process, discharging Methods toxic wastes into the rivers and degrading agricultural land. As part of their outreach programme, the staff and students of the Department of Chemistry All of the 68 tanneries in Dindigul, Tamil worked with the PRA Unit of the Gandhigram Nadu, South India, are situated within a 5 km Rural Institute to conduct the in-depth study of distance from the centre of the town. Several the effects of pollution caused by tannery of them have been in existence for thirty to effluents. Together, the team from the forty years. Effluents from the ...