1 Introduction
Environmental pollution is a serious problem that people’s facing worldwide and its
protection is one of the challenges required for the survival of living organisms. Our
natural environment is being heavily contaminated by industrial wastewaters that
contain potentially toxic organic and inorganic heavy metals causing serious environmental threats (Saxena and Bharagava 2015; Kumari et al. 2016; Saxena et al.
2016; Haq et al. 2016a, b; Bharagava et al. 2017a, b, c; Gautam et al. 2017; Goutam
et al. 2018; Kishor et al. 2018). The pulp and paper industry is one of the imperative
industrial sectors of the country, but unfortunately it discharges huge volume of
high-strength wastewater containing many toxic pollutants that may cause adverse
impact on environment. To cope with these challenges, in the last decade, various
projects have been implemented in Indian paper industry to upgrade the technology
for the improvement of energy and water consumption and wastewater generation.
Pulp and paper industry is one of the most polluter industries in the environment
(Baruah et al. 1996; Murugesan et al. 2000; Singh et al. 2016), and effluents released
from the industry enter into the environment without proper treatment (Srivastava
et al. 1994). The Indian pulp and paper industry is highly water intensive, consuming
100–250 m
3 freshwater/ton paper and generating a corresponding 75–225 m
3 wastewater/ton paper (Tewari et al. 2009). As per the Ministry of Environment and Forest
(MoEF), Government of India, the pulp and paper industry is categorized in the “Red
Category” list of 17 industries having a high pollution load and owing its toxic effect
on flora and fauna. Therefore, it is obligatory for paper industry to conform the
prescribed pollutant discharge limits set by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
(Tewari et al. 2009).
The wastewater generated from paper industry during pulping, bleaching, and
washing processes is often characterized by their high color, lignin, BOD, COD,
TDS, SS, and potentially toxic chlorophenols, organic acids, and phosphorus and
sulfur compounds along with metals (Pokhrel and Viraraghavan 2004; Haq et al.
2016a, b; Kumar et al. 2017a, b, c). The adverse effect of pulp and paper mill effluent
pollutants is well studied. The higher molecular weight compounds may be nontoxic
to living organism because they cannot penetrate easily inside the cellular membrane, but after degradation of these compounds, they may be converted into lower
molecular weight compounds, which could be active and toxic to living organisms
(Pokhrel and Viraraghavan 2004). Partially treated effluent also induces carcinogenic, mutagenic, clastogenic, and endocrine-disrupting effects in exposed organisms (Savant et al. 2006; Ali and Sreekrishnan 2001).
Various studies have reported detrimental effects of pulp and paper mill effluent
on animals living in water bodies receiving the effluent. The effects are in the form of
respiratory stress, liver damage, and genotoxicity (Vass et al. 1996; Johnsen et al.
1998; Schnell et al. 2000). The wastewater generated from pulp and paper industry
causes various health implications such as headache, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and
eye irritation in industries workers and children (Mandal and Bandana 1996). In
addition, this wastewater also affects invertebrate communities, zooplanktons,
334
I. Haq and A. Raj
Environmental pollution is a serious problem that people’s facing worldwide and its
protection is one of the challenges required for the survival of living organisms. Our
natural environment is being heavily contaminated by industrial wastewaters that
contain potentially toxic organic and inorganic heavy metals causing serious environmental threats (Saxena and Bharagava 2015; Kumari et al. 2016; Saxena et al.
2016; Haq et al. 2016a, b; Bharagava et al. 2017a, b, c; Gautam et al. 2017; Goutam
et al. 2018; Kishor et al. 2018). The pulp and paper industry is one of the imperative
industrial sectors of the country, but unfortunately it discharges huge volume of
high-strength wastewater containing many toxic pollutants that may cause adverse
impact on environment. To cope with these challenges, in the last decade, various
projects have been implemented in Indian paper industry to upgrade the technology
for the improvement of energy and water consumption and wastewater generation.
Pulp and paper industry is one of the most polluter industries in the environment
(Baruah et al. 1996; Murugesan et al. 2000; Singh et al. 2016), and effluents released
from the industry enter into the environment without proper treatment (Srivastava
et al. 1994). The Indian pulp and paper industry is highly water intensive, consuming
100–250 m
3 freshwater/ton paper and generating a corresponding 75–225 m
3 wastewater/ton paper (Tewari et al. 2009). As per the Ministry of Environment and Forest
(MoEF), Government of India, the pulp and paper industry is categorized in the “Red
Category” list of 17 industries having a high pollution load and owing its toxic effect
on flora and fauna. Therefore, it is obligatory for paper industry to conform the
prescribed pollutant discharge limits set by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
(Tewari et al. 2009).
The wastewater generated from paper industry during pulping, bleaching, and
washing processes is often characterized by their high color, lignin, BOD, COD,
TDS, SS, and potentially toxic chlorophenols, organic acids, and phosphorus and
sulfur compounds along with metals (Pokhrel and Viraraghavan 2004; Haq et al.
2016a, b; Kumar et al. 2017a, b, c). The adverse effect of pulp and paper mill effluent
pollutants is well studied. The higher molecular weight compounds may be nontoxic
to living organism because they cannot penetrate easily inside the cellular membrane, but after degradation of these compounds, they may be converted into lower
molecular weight compounds, which could be active and toxic to living organisms
(Pokhrel and Viraraghavan 2004). Partially treated effluent also induces carcinogenic, mutagenic, clastogenic, and endocrine-disrupting effects in exposed organisms (Savant et al. 2006; Ali and Sreekrishnan 2001).
Various studies have reported detrimental effects of pulp and paper mill effluent
on animals living in water bodies receiving the effluent. The effects are in the form of
respiratory stress, liver damage, and genotoxicity (Vass et al. 1996; Johnsen et al.
1998; Schnell et al. 2000). The wastewater generated from pulp and paper industry
causes various health implications such as headache, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and
eye irritation in industries workers and children (Mandal and Bandana 1996). In
addition, this wastewater also affects invertebrate communities, zooplanktons,
334
I. Haq and A. Raj