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Global good practices in industrial wastewater treatment and disposal/reuse, with special reference to common effluent treatment plants

Rapid industrialization is adversely impacting the environment globally. Pollution by inappropriate management of industrial wastewater is one of the major environmental problems in India as well, especially with burgeoning small scale industrial sector in the country. To address the pollution coming out from industries, adoption of cleaner production technologies and waste minimization initiatives are being encouraged. Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) are considered as one of the viable solution for small to medium enterprises for effective wastewater treatment. However, many of the operating CETPs are not performing optimally due to various technical and managerial reasons. This study has made an attempt to understand the issues related to the operating CETPs and provide information related to Best Available Techniques (BAT), along with economic feasibility. The study has taken four prominent industrial sectors in the country, i.e. textile, tannery, pharmaceuticals and electroplating. For each of these sectors case studies which have adopted the BAT have been reported.