Monitoring Crop DiversitySoil Fertility Changes And Site Specific Reclamation Of Treated Paper Mill Effluent Irrigated Soil

Abstract

Industrial Wastewater will be a potential source of irrigation after proper treatments newlineto meet out the water demand. The pulp and paper industry is one of the largest industries newlinein India consuming large quantities of fresh water for paper production. Nearly 75-95% of newlinefresh water used in these mills was discharged as wastewater. Tamil Nadu Newsprint and newlinePapers Limited (TNPL) is one of the leading agro based pulp and paper industry in India newlinelocated at Kagithapuram of Karur district. At present 27 cu. m treated waste water is newlinedischarged every day which was light brown colored, neutral in pH with an EC of 3.57 dS newlinem-1 enriched with nutrients, high amount of Na, Cl and SO42-and this enormous quantity of newlinetreated effluent is utilized for irrigation since 1993 in the nearby five villages in an area of newlineapproximately 1750 acres. Hence a holistic approach was planned to evaluate the positive newlineand negative impact of long-term treated paper mill effluent on land use, groundwater and newlinesoil quality and management strategies to improve the ecosystem. newlineThe land use land cover (LULC) change assessment using remote sensing and GIS newlinetechniques showed that the area under vegetation and settlements was increased by newline90.5 per cent and 66.0 per cent, respectively and fallow lands were drastically decreased by newline92.8 per cent over a period of 25 years (1992-2017) on treated industrial effluent irrigation. newlineThe survey work and laboratory analysis have shown that continuous treated newlineeffluent irrigation in the study area degraded the soil and ground water quality. Based on newlinethe pH, ESP and ECe levels, it was found that 23.2 per cent of area was saline and newline41.3 per cent area was saline-sodic in nature. The remaining area also found to be tending newlinetowards the salinity and sodicity. Water table in the study area is around 0.46 to 3.00 m newlinefrom ground surface and was considered as potential areas for waterlogging. The ground newlinewater was found to be unfit for irrigation and consumption based on quality criteria newlineincluding potential salinity and ion concentration