167

© 2012 Triveni Enterprises J. Environ. Biol.

Vikas Nagar, Lucknow, INDIA 33, 167-171 (2012)
[email protected] ISSN: 0254- 8704
Full paper available on: www.jeb.co.in CODEN: JEBIDP

Assessment of the toxicity of waste water from a textile

industry to Cyprinus carpio
Author Details
H. Roopadevi Department of Environmental Science, Bangalore University, Bangalore - 560 056, India
R.K. Somashekar Department of Environmental Science, Bangalore University, Bangalore - 560 056, India
(Corresponding author) e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
Static, short-term, acute toxicity tests were performed over a period of 96 hrs using different concentrations of
Publication Data influent and effluent of textile industry waste water with the objective of evaluating their acute toxicity on fresh
water fish, Cyprinus carpio (common carp). The LC50 24, 48, 72 and 96 hr of influent and effluent were 25.9,
Paper received:
21.10, 15.66, 11.11% (v/v) and 63.18, 54.89, 48.62, 36.04% (v/v), respectively. The acute toxic unit TUa
1 October 2010
values for 24, 48, 72, 96 hr for influent and effluent are 3.85, 4.73, 6.38, 8.99 and 1.58, 1.82, 2.05, 2.77,
respectively. Correspondingly, the TF was found to be 1, 1.22, 1.65 and 2.33 for influent, and for effluent 1,
Revised received:
1.15, 1.29 and 1.75. Total efficiency of the treatment was 69.16% and the safe concentration of effluent is set
10 December 2010
to be 3.60%. These data are highly useful in establishing limits of acceptability by the aquatic animals. The
need to introduce toxicity evaluation assay for confirming the quality of effluent from the point view of effective
Accepted:
environmental safe limits and to ensure integrity of aquatic environment, is stressed.
21 April 2011

Key words
Cyprinus carpio, Toxicity evaluation, Textile effluent, Toxicity factor, Acute toxic unit

Introduction Physico-chemical parameters are generally used for

Aquatic systems are exposed to a number of pollutants evaluation of effluent quality. However, these parameters alone
emanating from industries, sewage treatment plants, drainage from cannot give a quantitative measure of the impact of pollution. Toxicity
urban and agricultural areas. Industrial effluents are possibly the evaluation is an important and cost effective tool in wastewater
most important single source of contaminates to aquatic environment quality monitoring as it provides the complete response of test
(Bryan and Langston, 1992). Some toxicants contained in the organisms to all the compounds in a cumulative way (Somashekar
industrial effluents have been reported to be toxic, depending on et al., 1985; Tisler and Koncan, 1999) and are more useful in
the dose and exposure duration (Yusuff and Sonibare, 2004), and regulating toxic chemicals and also to determine the long and short
they can impart serious damage to aquatic life (Vinodhini et al., term impacts of discharge on the aquatic life of the receiving body of
2009). There have been several reported cases of fish mortality water and ground water table (Kohn, 1980). Also, the studies are
due to the discharge of industrial effluents from several industries highly useful for determining the safe concentration of waste water
into the receiving water bodies (Das, 2003; Adewoye and Lateef, to be discharged in to aquatic water bodies (Bobmanuel et al.,
2004; Adewoye et al., 2005). The pollutants build up in the food 2006). This in turn, could pave way to establish limits and levels of
chain are responsible for the adverse effects and finally death of their acceptability by the living organisms. Therefore, the ultimate
aquatic organisms (Ogundiran et al., 2010). Textile industries are aim of toxicity evaluation is to predict the acceptable levels of toxicants
the major sources of pollution due to the nature of their operations in the environment to the biota. To understand whole effluent toxicity
which require high volume of water that eventually results in higher (WET) using fish, toxicity test endpoint tool used in compliance
wastewater generation (Nemerow, 1978). Uptake of textile effluents monitoring is called toxic units. The test end points are converted to
through food chain in aquatic organisms may cause various a number and a measure of toxicity in an effluent is determined by
physiological disorders like hypertension, sporadic fever, renal the acute toxic unit (TUa). It is a reciprocal of the effective
damage, cramps etc. (Karthikeyan et al., 2006). concentration and indicates higher TUa, the greater toxicity. It is

Journal of Environmental Biology
March 2012

168 H. Roopadevi and R.K. Somashekar
helpful to translate concentration based toxicity data into unit (US- control. Observations were made after 24, 48, 72, 96 hr intervals.
EPA, 2000). Chukwuand and Okhumale (2009) suggested the TF The feeding was suspended 24 hr before start and throughout the
for relative potency measurements in acute toxicity of binary mixtures experiment. Fish status and behavior along with water temperature,
of petroleum products using Nile tilapia fingerlings. Furthermore, pH, dissolved oxygen and conductivity were monitored through
Chukwu and Okpe (2006) evaluated the toxicity of inorganic fertilizer the course of experiment. The physico-chemical parameters of the
under various salinity regimes on Tilapia guineensis employing TF. tap water were estimated according to APHA (2005). The number
of dead fish within 96 hr post-exposure was recorded.
The Cyprinus carpio fish having commercial importance is
a known bioindicator used in the toxicological tests (ISO 7346/1 Physico-chemical analysis: Influent and effluent samples from
(1984), USEPA, 2002). This test is recommended as a general the industry were collected simultaneously and separately into 2 l
standard test by Environmental Protection Act (EPA, 1986) for clean plastic cans and taken for physico-chemical analysis following
discharge of pollutants from the industrial operations (Schedule-I), standard procedure (APHA, 2005). Samples were preserved using
and general standard for discharge of effluent to inland surface preservatives as required, separately (for BOD, heavy metals,
water, public sewer on land for irrigation and marine coastal areas Total residual chlorine, sulphide and oil and grease estimation).
(schedule-VI). The objective of this study was to evaluate the acute
toxicity of the effluent and influent (Sri Srinivasa Textile Industry, Statistical analysis: LC50 and their corresponding 95% confidence
Bangalore) exposed in different concentration to Cyprinus carpio. intervals were calculated by probit analysis (SPSS 7.5 version).
The TF were calculated using ratio of 24 hr LC50 of a sample to LC50
Materials and Methods values of samples at different time intervals (48, 72 and 96 hr)
Source of fish and test media: Healthy common carp, (Chukwu and Okpe, 2006). Safe concentration was obtained by
irrespective of sex were obtained from National Centre for Fisheries, multiplying the lethal concentration values with an application factor
Bhadra River project, Shimoga, Karnataka state and transported to of 0.1 (Bobmanual et al., 2006). Acute toxic unit (TUa) and total
the laboratory using standard procedure. They were acclimatized efficiency of effluent treatment unit was calculated (USEPA, 2000) as
to laboratory conditions in well aerated dechlorinated tap water for follows:
15 days in glass aquaria (120X60X70 cm) with oxygenation by TUa = 100/LC50% (v/v)
aerators at 25 ± 2oC, maintained with thermostat. The water was E = (TUai-TUae)/TUai * 100
changed once in 5 days and filter was adjusted to remove the Where TUai = Influent TUa; TUae = Effluent TUa; E = Efficiency.
metabolic wastes. Diseased fish or fish showing any abnormal
behavior were removed from the aquaria as soon as possible. Results and Discussion
Where the mortality exceeded 5% during the process, the entire There were not many variations in the physical and chemical
batch was discarded. The fish were provided with commercial diet. characteristics of dilution water used for test for parameters such as
After acclimatization, those with average length of 8.5 cm and an pH, total hardness, dissolved oxygen and alkalinity. The pH of
average weight of 7.0 g were selected for the study.
influent sample was highly alkaline side, dark blue colored and
The influent (before treatment) and effluent (after final exhibited pungent smell, whereas the effluent sample was slightly
treatment) samples used for the study were collected from Sri alkaline and grey colored with unpleasant smell. The concentrations
Srinivasa Textile Industry, Bangalore during February to May, of COD, BOD, suspended solids, dissolved solids, chloride,
2009. The discharges from different processes include dye, chrome chromium, were high (Table 1). The result of bioassay, however
dye, indigo dye and vegetable dyes. The effluents are treated in implicated the effluent to be unsafe to fishes. The influent and effluent
the industry premises to reduce contaminants. characteristics did not met the (EPA, 1986) standards for cotton
textile and dye and dye intermediate effluent and FEPA (1991)
Bioassays: Thirty five litre capacity plastic cans were used to specification of safe limit for effluent discharge into any categories of
collect influent (5 cans) and effluent (5 cans) samples from the textile water bodies.
industry and transported immediately to the laboratory and stored
in a cold room. Preliminary screening test was carried out to ascertain However, when the test samples were administered to
the range of toxicity of the test media before the actual bioassay. experimental tanks, various stressful behaviors like erratic swimming,
Acute static toxicity tests were performed in accordance with APHA increased activity, inconsistent jumping were observed in Cyprinus
(2005). For the determination of LC50, different concentrations carpio exposed to both influent (above 25% concentration) and
(sample and diluent water) of influent and effluent were prepared effluent (above 50% concentration). These behavioral responses
using dechlorinated tap water. A total of 70 fishes of C.carpio were of fish is in response to toxicants present in the sample at different
exposed including control as triplicates (10 fishes per replicate) per duration of exposure and the prevailing specific environmental
treatment. The concentration of influent sample used were 5, 10, conditions as opined by Bobmanuel et al. (2006). This also signifies
15, 20, 25, 30% (v/v) and control, since it was found to be much respiratory impairment, an out come of the impact of the waste water
toxic than effluent sample as confirmed by preliminary test. The on the gills of fish as observed by Adewoye et al. (2005). There
effluent samples were used at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70% and was gradual loss of equilibrium and eventually 100% mortality at 96

Journal of Environmental Biology
March 2012

Toxicity of waste water to Cyprinus carpio 169

Table - 1: Physico-chemical parameters of influent and effluent from Sri Srinivasa Textile Industry
Standard limits
Parameters Influent Effluent
EPA (1986)* FEPA (1991)**

Temperature (oC) 39 28 - -
Colour Dark blue Grey - -
Odour Pungent Unpleasant - -
pH 11.2 8.1 5.5-9 6-9
COD (mg l-1) 993 539 - -
BOD (mg l-1) 780 144 150 50
Suspended solids (mg l-1) 328 114 100 30
Dissolved solids (mg l-1) 5682 3938 - -
Conductivity (mmhoscm-1) 8.4 5.9 - -
Cr (mg l-1) 0.38 0.32 2 -
Cd (mg l-1) 0.01 BDL - <1.0
Zn (mg l-1) 0.05 0.05 - <1.0
Cu (mg l-1) 0.31 0.02 - <1.0
Pb (mg l-1) 0.09 0.09 - <1.0
Chloride (mg l-1) 2600 1200 - -
Total residual chlorine (mg l-1) Nil Nil - -
Sulphide (mg l-1) 8.0 Nil 2 -
Phosphate (mg l-1) 0.15 Nil - -
Oil and grease (mg l-1) Nil Nil 10 10
Bioassay Not confirmed Not confirmed 90% survival of fish -
*Environment Protection Act, 1986, India.
**Federal Environmental Protection Agency, 1991.
Values are the average of triplicate samples.

Table - 2: Mortality details of common carp C. carpio exposed to various concentrations of influent and effluent at different duration
Concentration 24 hr 48 hr 72 hr 96 hr
(%) R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3

Influent
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 0 0 1 0 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3
10 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 4
15 2 2 1 3 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 5
20 3 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 4 6 6 7
25 5 6 5 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8
30 8 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 10
Effluent
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 2 1
30 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 3 3 3
40 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 3 4 4 5 4
50 3 2 2 3 4 3 4 5 4 8 8 7
60 6 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 9 9 9
70 7 7 6 9 9 9 9 10 9 10 10 10
R = Replicate

hr occurred at higher concentrations viz., 30 and 70% of influent The responses recorded for the fish in this study are similar to
and effluent, respectively. This could be a consequence of those reported by Danielly de paiva magalhaes et al. (2007)
depletion of energy in the body of the exposed animals and an and Chukwuand and Okhumale (2009). Such an anomaly was
indication of impairment of carbohydrate metabolism wherein not observed in the control set maintained under identical
organisms that could not tolerate the contaminants enter into a experimental condition and the fish did not show symptoms of
state of coma and subsequent death (Ogundiran et al., 2010). restless behaviors.

Journal of Environmental Biology
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170 H. Roopadevi and R.K. Somashekar

Table - 3: Relative acute toxicity of influent and effluent of textile industry on Cyprinus carpio
Exposure LC50 Safe Total
duration (95% confidence Slope ± S.E DF Probit equation TUa TF concentration efficiency
(hr) limit v/v) (%)
Influent
24 25.907 (19.297 – 63.413) 3.597±0.640 4 -5.085+3.597x 3.859 1.00 2.59 -
48 21.104 (14.950 – 38.975) 3.392±0.538 4 -4.492+3.392x 4.738 1.22 2.11
72 15.663 ( 08.296 – 29.902) 2.432±0.415 4 -2.905+2.432x 6.384 1.65 1.56
96 11.117 ( 03.333 – 17.994) 2.383±0.403 4 -2.492+2.382x 8.995 2.33 1.11
Effluent
24 63.189 (58.052 – 71.649) 6.792±1.213 4 -12.231+6.792x 1.582 1.00 6.31 59.00
48 54.895 (42.794 – 89.919) 6.051±0.901 4 -10.526+6.051x 1.821 1.15 5.48 61.56
72 48.625 (39.168 – 63.512) 5.146±0.736 4 -08.681+5.146x 2.056 1.29 4.86 67.79
96 36.044 (27.830 – 43.832) 5.268±0.682 4 -08.201+5.268x 2.774 1.75 3.60 69.16
S.E = Standard error, D.F = Degree of freedom, TUa = Acute toxicity unit, TF = Toxicity factor

The results of mortality analysis of influent against Cyprinus lazera) exposed to dyestuff and chemical wastewater. Int. J. Zool.
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Adewoye, S.O., O.O. Fawole and O.D. Owolabi: Toxicity of cassava a
from 11.11% (v/v) at 96 hr to 25.90% (v/v) at 24 hr, while for the waste water effluents to African catfish: Clarias gariepinus. Ethiop.
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