ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OF AN AREA ADJACENT TO THE RELOCATED TANNERY INUSTRIES AT HEMAYETPUR, BANGLADESH

Abstract

The deterioration of environmental quality due to wastes generated from
tannery industries is an alarming global issue in Bangladesh. To assess this
problem in an area adjacent to the recently shifted tannery industries at
Hemayetpur, soil, water and plant samples are collected from upstream as
control, secondary treatment ponds, main discharge station and downstream at
500, 1000, 2000 and 3000 m across the areas and are analyzed for environmental
quality. The water samples of Dhaleswari river are slightly acidic to moderately
alkaline pH from 6.55 to 10.60, high TDS from 176 to 10,433 mg/l, EC from 305 to
18,206 μS/cm, nitrate from 0.14 to 194 mg/l, sulfate from 10.72 to 8922 mg/l,
moderate phosphate from 0.58 to 7.2 mg/l and low DO from 1.61 to 5.50 mg/l. It
is clearly noticed that most of the water parameters exceeded WHO guideline
values except pH and phosphate that indicates Dhaleswari river water quality is
declining slowly. The available concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus,
potassium and sulfur in soil varies from 12 to 263, 1.19 to 38, 17 to 170, 251 to 680
mg/kg, respectively, whereas, the total concentration ranges from 0.03 to 0.14%,
0.090 to 0.14%, 0.12 to 0.48%, and 0.11 to 0.42%, respectively. In soil samples, total
phosphorus and potassium concentrations are increased but sulfur decreased.
The soils are found acidic in nature that have high EC 8.17 dS/m. A significant
positive correlation is found with each other of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium
and sulfur concentrations in soil samples. The nutrients in plant samples have no
deficiency those are within the optimum range.