Impacts of Evaporation Ponds of Ethanol Distillery Spent Wash on Underground Water

This preliminary study was designed to monitor the effect of distillery spent wash evaporation ponds on underground water. The water samples (3 spent wash and 32 underground (total 35)) were analyzed for the parameters, pH, Electrical conductivity (E.C), Total dissolved salts (TDS), Total hardness (TH), Chloride, Total phosphate-P, M-alkalinity, Sulfate, Nitrate-N, Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). The physico-chemical parameters of the water samples for spent wash and underground were found in the following ranges; pH 7.2-7.7 & 6.8-7.7, electrical conductivity 38.2-44.7 ms/cm & 0.47-32.0 ms/cm, TDS 24448-28608 mg/l & 302-19840 mg/l, Total hardness 17400-18000 mg/l & 170-4150 mg/l, chlorides 7446-13293.5 mg/l & 85.0-2836 mg/l , Total phosphate-p 229.5-328.5 mg/l & 0.005-2.29 mg/l, Methyl red Alkalinity 1702.5-2352.5 mg/l & 115-657.5 mg/l , Sulfate 3157.8-3552.6 mg/l & 10-417.1 mg/l, Nitrate-N 471.5-539.1 mg/l & 0.0-28.0 mg/l, COD 20080-24320 mg/l & 0.0-53.0 mg/l, DO 0.036-0.12 mg/l & 1.1-7.7 mg/l respectively. The underground water was observed being affected by the spent wash. It was observed that the distillery industry discharges various pollutants in concentration above NEQS for industrial effluents. Greater concentration of these pollutants is responsible for underground water pollution of study area.