Assessment of Distillery Effluent on Soil Quality of Adjoining Communities- A Case Study

Abstract

This study is conducted to evaluate the inmical impact of distillery spent wash on the soil properties. This is
a quantitative study based on the physico-chemical analysis of distillery spent wash and soil. Soil and spent samples
were collected from two different locations; Mirpurkhas and Tando Muhammad Khan in Sindh province, A controlled
soil sample was also collected from Town Tando Qaiser, Hyderabad district, where there is no distillery operating and
has farms. All the samples were analyzed with different analytical parameters and compared with Sindh Environmental
Quality Standards. The testing methods were followed under standard reference methods of ASTM-2011, USEPA-2001
and APHA-2005. The analytical results have shown the chronic effect of spent wash on the soil, Electrical conductivity
of district Mirpurkhas was found 92348.421µs/cm and Tando Muhammad Khan has 76375.134µs/cm, which was
greater than the controlled samples EC of 18229.89µs/cm. Both distilleries have very high electrical conductivity of
171448.65µs/cm and 160314.462µs/cm respectively. Other results of spent wash and soil were also exceeding the limit
of SEQs and controlled sample. The distillery spent wash has high concentration of BOD (760 mg/l, 4,120 mg/l) and
COD (2,950 mg/l, 20,640 mg/l) as compared to SEQs BOD (80 mg/l) and COD (150 mg. l) for discharge of industrial
effluent. Both the distilleries discharged their effluent directly into the river canal. The physical appearance of the soil
was noticed to be garish black in color and stunted growths of trees indicate the excessive use of spent wash for
irrigation.

Keywords: Spent wash, distillery effluents, soil quality, electrical conductivity.