Journal of Environmental Research And Development Vol. 5 No.

3, January-March 2011

STUDY ON TIRUPPUR CETPs DISCHARGE AND THEIR

IMPACT ON NOYYAL RIVER AND ORATHUPALAYAM
DAM, TAMIL NADU (INDIA)
*1
A. Samuel Rajkumar and S. Nagan 2

1. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Chennai (INDIA)

2. Depatment of Civil Engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai (INDIA)

Received November 14, 2010 Accepted February 24, 2008

ABSTRACT
Tiruppur town is located on the bank of Noyyal river, Tamil Nadu, India. Noyyal is a tributary of river
Cauvery. There 729 bleaching and dying units are in operation in Tiruppur area. These units generate
96.1 million litres per day (MLD) of wastewater. Initially, they discharged untreated effluent into the
river. In year 1997, after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) directions they installed 8
Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) and individual effluent treatment plants (IETP) consisting
of physical, chemical and biological treatment process. Even then, the treated effluent from the
CETPs and IETPs did not meet the Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) and chloride standards. The discharge
of high TDS and chloride effluent into Noyyal river had significantly affected the river water quality,
groundwater quality as well as the Orathupalayam dam which is constructed across Noyyal river at
32 km down stream of Tiruppur. In year 2006, the honorable High Court of Madras and TNPCB
directed the bleaching and dyeing units to install Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) plant consisting of
RO plant and reject management system. At present there are 17 CETPs with ZLD plant are in
operation. The treated effluent is reused by the member units. The RO reject is concentrated in
Multiple Effect Evaporator (MEE) / Mechanical Vacuum Re-compressor (MVR) and then solar
evaporated. Thus the discharge into the river is now stopped. However the damage caused to the
groundwater and soil in the river basin is yet to be restored.
Key Words : Tiruppur discharge, Noyyal river, Mechanical Vacuum Re-compressor (MVR) ,
Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) plant, Multiple Effect Evaporator (MEE)

INTRODUCTION in India both for overseas market and the domestic

Tiruppur is the head quarter of Tiruppur district.
Geographically the town is at 11.7o north latitude
and 77.5o east longitude. The town is spread over
an area approximately 27 sq.km and a population
of 3.5 lakhs. It is located on the bank of Noyyal
river1. It is one of the well-known places in hosiery
and knitwear manufacture in international market.
Tiruppur accounts for 90% of India’s hosiery and
knitwear export2. The main activities in industrial
sector here are ginning, weaving, knitting,
bleaching, and dyeing, printing and allied works.
Tiruppur has become an important textile cluster
*Author for correspondence
558
market. It has 2500 knitting and stitching units,
729 dyeing and bleaching units, 300 printing units,
100 embroidery units and other 200 units catering
to compacting, raising and calendaring. This town
annually contributes about INR 3600 crores in
foreign exchange earnings to India. The dramatic
improvement in Tiruppur’s export market can be
attr ibuted to the disbanding of gar ment
manufacturing in western countries due to
environmental pollution and high cost of labour.
Due to low annual rainfall (~ 500 mm/year), textile
wet processing industries in Tiruppur buy water
through lorries from surrounding villages at a cost
of around INR. 115 crores annually3.
Journal of Environmental Research And Development
Study area
The Noyyal river is a tributary of the river
Cuavery. The Noyyal river originates from
Velliangiri hills in the western ghats and flows
through Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode and Karur
districts traversing distance of 172 km and
confluences with the river Cauvery at Kodumudi
which is at 55 km down stream of Tiruppur. A
dam namely Orathupalayam dam is constructed
across the Noyyal r iver at about 32 km
downstream of Tiruppur Town, to irrigate ayacut
of 20,000 2. The river has seasonal flow, mostly
during the north-east monsoon period. Return flow
from Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal also
Fig. 1 : Location of Noyyal river basin, CETPs and river water sampling points Textile bleaching and
dyeing units
In Tiruppur, there are 729 bleaching and dyeing
units under operation3. They process mainly
hosiery and cotton cloth. They carryout wet
process activities which includes i). bleaching, ii).
neutralizing, iii). washing, iv). Acid wash, vii).
washing, viii). soaping, ix). hot wash, x). fixing
559
Vol. 5 No. 3, January-March 2011
drains into the Noyyal. The river gets polluted
when it passes through Tiruppur, due to discharges
of 96.1 million litres per day (MLD) of coloured
effluent with high total dissolved solids (TDS) in
the range of 6000 to 7000 mg/L, by the textile
belching and dyeing units in Tiruppur4. Apart from
the industrial pollution, about 3 MLD of untreated
municipal wastewater find its way into the Noyyal
river and makes the river as one of the most
polluted rivers in the State. The groundwater in
the down stream of Tiruppur and the surface water
in Orathupalayam dam have become highly
polluted. A line sketch of Noyyal river basin is
given in Fig. 1.
and softening5 (Fig. 2). The wastewater generated
by bleaching and dyeing operations mainly
depends on the chemicals utilized and the
processes adopted. 100 kg of fabric bleaching and
dyeing process generate 800 litres of trade effluent
from soft flow machine process, and 1500 litres
from winch machine process5 (Table 1).
Journal of Environmental Research And Development Vol. 5 No. 3, January-March 2011

Raw Fabric Bleaching Neutralizing Washing Dyeing

Washing Acid wash Washing Soaping Hot wash

Fixing & Softening Finished Fabric

Fig. 2 : Process flow chart

Table 1 : Raw effluent characteristics of the combined effluent form bleaching and
dyeing process5

Each unit discharges about 150 kilo litres per day collection well, equalization tank, flash mixer,
(KLD) of effluent. In total the units in Tiruppur clariflocculator, aeration tank, clarifier, pressure
discharge about 96.1 MLD of effluent. After sand filter, sludge thickener, centrifuge, and sludge
treatment it finally reaches Noyyal river. This drying beds. After treatment the treated effluent
alone makes the Noyyal as a perennial river, was discharged into river Noyyal. In this study,
having otherwise been betrayed by nature. the performance of the CETPs and the quality of
Effluent treatment plants Noyyal river water, Orathupalayam dam water
The large and medium scale units (236 units) have quality are presented.
provided individual effluent treatment plant (IETP).
After treatment they use the treated effluent on
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
land of irrigation in their own land. The remaining All the dyeing units in Tiruppur have provided
medium and small scale units (493 units) who have treatment plant either commonly or individually.
not adequate land and finance to provide IETP, The units without treatment plant were shut down
have joined together and formed company 4 . by the TNPCB. Even then complaints are being
Through the company they executed 8 common received from the farmers that the river water
effluent treatment plants (CETP) with 50% finical and the Orathupalayam dam water is polluted due
subsidies from Central and State Governments.560
The treatment system generally consists of
Journal of Environmental Research And Development Vol. 5 No. 3, January-March 2011
the dyeing units effluent discharge. In order to
assess the actual field condition, this study was
taken up. The aim and objective is to monitor the
7 operational CETP’s outlet and at the same period
to monitor the river water quality at the upstream
and down stream and also to monitor the
Orathupalayam dam water quality.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Treated effluents samples were collected every
month from the out let of 7 operational CETPs
from April 2008 to March 2009. At the same time
Noyyal river water samples were collected at
three locations (i.e). Mangalam (2 km upstream
of Tiruppur), Kasipalayam (5km down stream of
Tiruppur) and Anaipalayam (20 km down stream Fig. 3 : TDS profile of CETPs
of Tiruppur). Similarly at Orathupalayam dam (32
km down stream of Tiruppur) also water sample 6000

was collected in the same period. Samples were 5000

collected in 2.5 litre new plastic containers and
Chloride mg/L
4000
got analyzed in TNPCB laboratory. The samples
3000
were analyzed as per the standards methods of
2000
APHA6. The analysis was carried out for physico
chemical parameters.(Table 2) 1000

0
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Aug'08

Sep'08

Nov'08

Dec'08

Mar'09
Jly'08

Oct'08

Feb'09
May'08

Jun'08

Jan'09
Apr'08

The report of analysis of CETPs treated effluent Month

quality is given in Table 2. It reveals that TDS Andipalayam Angeripalayam Kasipalayam
was in the range of 2799-30556 mg/L as against Mannarai Chinnakarai Kunnangalpalaym

permissible level of 2100 mg/L7, chlorides was in Veerapandi Standard

the range of 962-14722 mg/L as against the Fig. 4 : Chloride profile of CETPs
permissible level of 1000 mg/L, BOD was in the
range of 1-300 mg/L as against the permissible
350
level of 30 mg/L, COD was in the range of 49-
300
1975 mg/L as against the permissible level of 250
250
mg/L, % sodium was in the range of 85-98%
BOD mg/L

against permissible level of 60% (on land for 200

irrigation standards). The results are plotted in 150

graph and given in Fig. 3 to Fig. 6 100

The Noyyal river water quality (Table 3) reveals 50

that the TDS level in the upstream of Tiruppur 0

Jly'08

Aug'08

Sep'08

Nov'08

Dec'08
May'08

Oct'08

Feb'09

Mar'09
Jun'08

Jan'09

was in the range of 900 - 5336 mg/L, down stream

Apr'08

was in the range of 372 - 6636 mg/L as against

the permissible level of 1500mg/L8. Chlorides in Month

the upstream was in the range of 233 - 2547 mg/ Andipalayam Angeripalayam
Kasipalayam Mannarai
L and in the down stream was in the range of Chinnakarai Kunnangalpalaym
808-2721 mg/L as against the permissible level Veerapandi Standard

of 600 mg/L. BOD in the upstream was in the

range of 1- 48 mg/L and in the down stream 1-36 Fig. 5 : BOD profile of CETPs

561
Journal of Environmental Research And Development Vol. 5 No. 3, January-March 2011

2500 3000

2500
2000
2000
COD mg/L

1500

TDS mg/L
1500

1000 1000

500
500
0

Apr'08

Jly'08
May'08

Jun'08

Aug'08

Sep'08

Nov'07

Jan'09

Feb'09
Oct'8

Dec'08

Mar'09
0
Jly'08

Aug'08

Sep'08

Nov'08

Dec'08
May'08

Oct'08

Feb'09

Mar'09
Jun'08

Jan'09
Apr'08

Month

Mangalam Kasipalayam Anaipalayam Orathupalayam Dam

Month

Andipalayam Angeripalayam Kasipalayam

Mannarai Chinnakarai Kunnangalpalaym
Fig. 8 : Chlordies in Noyyal river
Veerapandi Standard

60
Fig. 6 : COD profile of CETPs
50
mg/L as against the permissible level of 3 mg/L.
40
COD in the upstream was 2- 324 mg/L and in the

BOD mg/L
down 17 - 292 mg/L. In the Orathupalayam dam, 30

the TDS (Table 3) in April’08 was 7888 mg/L 20

and it was reduced to 4256 mg/L in March ’09. 10

Chlorides were reduced from 2324mg/L to 1950 0

Jly'08
Apr'08

Feb'09
May'08

Jun'08

Aug'08

Sep'08

Nov'07

Dec'08

Jan'09
Oct'8

Mar'09
mg/L. This is due continuous release of dam water
without stocking and improvements in the CETP Month
discharges4. The results are plotted in graph and
Mangalam Kasipalayam Anaipalayam Orathupalayam Dam
given Fig. 7 to Fig. 10. Pollution concentration
in Noyyal river is low till the river reaches
Fig. 9 : BOD in Noyyal river
Tiruppur. But it increases considerably in Tiruppur
area, due to textile effluent discharge, and
continues up to Orathupalayam dam. Pollution 350
300
concentration in the river is more in summer than
250
COD mg/L

9000 200
8000 150
7000 100
6000
TDS mg/L

50
5000
0
4000
Jun'08

Feb'09
Jly'08

Aug'08

Sep'08

Nov'07

Dec'08
Apr'08

May'08

Oct'8

Jan'09

Mar'09

3000
2000
1000 Month
0 Mangalam Kasipalayam Anaipalayam Orathupalayam Dam
Apr'08

Feb'09
Jly'08
May'08

Jun'08

Aug'08

Sep'08

Oct'8

Nov'07

Dec'08

Jan'09

Mar'09

Fig. 10 : BOD in Noyyal river

Mangalam Kasipalayam
Fig. 7 : TDS in Noyyal river
winter. The existing moderate flow in Noyyal
is not sufficient for diluting the pollutants 9,10. The
environmental impact on ground water, surface
water, soil, fish and the natural eco-system in the
Tiruppur area and in downstream area is due to
562
Month
the following reasons: (a) the continuous discharge
Anaipalayam Orathupalayam Dam of untreated / partially treated effluent for more
than 20 years has accumulated in the soil, water,
etc in many locations. The Noyyal river and the
land in and around the town of Tiruppur do not
have the capacity to assimilate the TDS and
chlorides11-15. Unless remediation measures are
undertaken, the impact will continue for several
 Table 2 : Report of analysis of CETP outlet (before discharge into Noyyal river)
Journal of Environmental Research And Development

563
Vol. 5 No. 3, January-March 2011

All parameters are in mg/L except % Sodium. Inland surface water discharge standards as per CPCB : TDS 2100 mg/L, Chloride 1000 mg/L, BOD 30 mg/L, COD 250 mg/L %
 Table 3 : Report of Analysis of Noyyal river water and Orathupalayam dam water samples
Journal of Environmental Research And Development

564
All parameters are in mg/L except % sodium, IS 2296 : 1982 standards for class C water body : TDS - 1500 mg/L, chlorides - 600 mg/L, BOD 3 mg/L % sodium for irrigation 60 (max.
limit)
Vol. 5 No. 3, January-March 2011
Journal of Environmental Research And Development
years even after treatment measures are in place
(b). the existing effluent treatment plants even
when they are functioning are unable to reduce
the total dissolved solids and chloride levels,
resulting in continuing contamination of soil and
water. The environmental impact is not only in
Tiruppur (local) but in downstream areas also.
CONCLUSION
Noyyal river basin was polluted due to discharge
of effluent by the bleaching and dyeing units. In
order to protect the surface water and
groundwater, TNPCB had directed all the
bleaching and dyeing units in Tiruppur to provide
zero liquid discharge (ZLD) plant and achieve
zero discharge. Accordingly the existing 7
operational CETP member units have provided
ZLD plant which consists of Reverse osmoses
(RO) plant, and reject management systems
(RMS). The RMS consists of multiple effect
evaporator or mechanical vacuum recompressor
followed by crystallizer, centrifuge and solar pan.
The RO permeate and MVR condensate is reused
in the dyeing process and the salt from solar pan
is stored in secured land fill facility. The IETP
units have also joined together and provided 10
ZLD plants. At present 17 common ZLD are in
operation since January 2010. Once this ZLD is
operated successfully, further pollution of Noyyal
river will be stopped. Tamil Nadu Government
has also banned setting up of water polluting
industries within 5 Km from the Noyyal River.
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