Environmental Impact of Untreated Effluents from Sugar Industry: A Case Study

Sugar industry, being the major consumer of water, discharges its effluents into the outside environment mostly as untreated. However, besides knowing about the pollution strength of these effluents, knowledge about the mode of disposal of these effluents into the surroundings is also crucial. Thus, an intensive investigation was carried out to know the disposal patterns adopted by three selected sugar mills, namely, Habib Sugar Mills, Nawabshah, Matiari Sugar Mills, Matiari, and Fauji Sugar Mills, Tando Mohammad Khan, along with the obvious problems people were facing as a result. The study concluded that the disposal of untreated effluents into the surroundings had a negative impact on the resources such as land and water (both surface and ground) in particular and on the health of people and their livestock in general.