The country’s pollution watchdog Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has flagged non-compliance of wastewater treatment at the three major tannery clusters – Jajmau, Unnao and Banther – to the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB). On September 18, CPCB issued directions to the UPPCB, seeking appropriate action to ensure compliance of water treatment norms at the tanneries. In the letter to UPPCB dated September 18, CPCB member secretary Bharat Kumar Sharma directed that the state body should establish a surveillance team to ensure that the units connected to the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) at Jajmau, Banthar and Unnao comply with the inlet effluent quality standards. Further, it asked the UPPCB to formulate a ‘time-bound action plan’ in consultation with stakeholders, the tanner units in this case, to improve the operation and maintenance of CETPs, in order to comply with the union environment ministry’s CETP standards. Kanpur, Unnao and Banther are home to major tannery clusters in north India making them a major hub for export of finished leather products. There are over 300 tannery units estimated to be operational in these clusters. To control tannery effluent pollution from discharging into Ganga, individual units are mandated to ensure primary treatment before they are taken in conveyor pipelines to the cluster’s common effluent treatment plant (CETP). The Rs 617 crore Jajmau CETP has a capacity of 20 million-litres-per-day was commissioned only last August. “It is evident that the CETPs located at tannery clusters of Jajmau, Banther and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh are not operated and maintained properly to comply with the treated effluent discharge norms. These CETPs are neither meeting inlet effluent quality standards prescribed by UPPCB nor treated effluent quality norms of common effluent treatment plants,” the CPCB member secretary noted in his letter. The inlet effluent treatment quality standards refer to the norms for tannery effluent treatment plants that are connected to the larger CETPs. CPCB said in its letter that the Jajmau CETP was inspected on July 23 by its officials and it was not complying with treated effluent quality standards for biological oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solids (TDS). The TDS levels were five times above prescribed norms. High BOD levels indicate that the water has a higher pollution load, and is detrimental for aquatic life. “Industrial effluent received at the inlet of the CETP was not meeting the inlet effluent quality standards prescribed by UPPCB for total suspended solids and chromium, which indicate that member units are not operating their primary ETP (effluent treatment plant) properly,” CPCB’s noted on inspection of Jajmau CETP. The CETP was also found to be non-complying with the norms on biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and total dissolved solids, in three inspections since last year. It added that the common chrome recovery unit (CCRU) of 900 kilolitre-per-day (KLD) was found ‘non-operational’ due to insufficient exhaust chrome liquor. Chromium sulphate is commonly used for tanning leather. The chrome recovery unit is used to reduce chromium pollution and to recover and recycle chromium used for tanning. In past inspections too, the CPCB has noted that the recovery unit was functioning intermittently due to unavailability of exhauster chrome liquor.
