Chromium Speciation and Agricultural Soil Contamination in the Surrounding Tannery Regions of Walajaphet, Vellore District, Southern India

The emerging environmental problem in the tanning industry is the disposal of chromium-contaminated sludge in the soil. In the Walajapet Taluk of the Vellore District, the distribution and mobility of chromium in the soils and sludge surrounding the tannery waste disposal region were explored. This paper presents soil contamination of agricultural lands located in the SIPCOT Industrial complex near Walajapet in Vellore District, India. 64 soil samples were collected from 15 different villages, and the soil samples were analyzed for pH, EC, total chromium, hexavalent, and trivalent chromium. Studies were carried out to find the chromium contamination of the agricultural lands due to industrial effluents. It is found that 75 % of the agricultural soil samples were highly contaminated, posing a risk to agricultural lands, based on the comparison of chromium in the soil with WHO standards. The majority of the soil samples (>80%) from the locations exhibited high Cr (>200 mg kg-1) concentrations that exceeded the maximum permissible limit. Furthermore, soil samples taken near tanneries revealed that tannery effluent has a significant impact. The facts strongly demonstrate the existence of hazardous chromium, resulting in severe deterioration of agricultural land. As a result, developing an effective plan and implementing a suitable remediation technique to address the heavy metals contamination problem is critical.