Estimation of the Negative Externalities of Textile Dyeing Industry Effluents on Crop Productivity and Value of Farm Lands in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Environmental problems due to rapid industrialisation are very common in areas where polluting industries like textile dyeing units, tanneries, pulp and paper processing units and sugar factories are located. The effluents discharged by these industrial units have led to severely polluted surface, ground water sources and soils, which has ultimately affected the livelihood of the common man. Agricultural practices with uncontrolled extensive use of agrochemicals and fertilisers, urbanisation and industrialisation discharge untreated industrial effluents and dump domestic wastes on large scale. The flow of sewage into waterways leads to water pollution. The Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) ranks countries on 21 elements of environmental sustainability covering natural resource endowments, past and present pollution levels, environmental management efforts, contributions to protection of the global commons, and a society's capacity to improve its environmental performance over time (Sherbinin et al., 2005). India ranks 101 in the list. Generally the highmiddle ranking reflects top performance on issues such as water quality and environmental protection capacity. India comes under bottom-rung results on issues, such as waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions (Appendix). India has comparative advantage in certain export industries, such as textiles, and leather because of its raw materials adundance and cheap labour. These agro-based industries cause various forms of pollution, which contaminate the air, water and land resources. Often they turn out to be ‘water consuming’ industries since they require large quantities of water for processing. These industries discharge the untreated or partially treated effluents on land or water bodies which end up in polluting the environment (Appasamy, 2001). The negative externalities of these industries are leading to loss in crop area and production, changes in cropping pattern, health problems, and socio-economic imbalance in the regions. Moreover industrial pollution causes labour migration, unemployment or changes in employment pattern and decrease in share of farm income to the total household income (Govindarajalu, 2003).