ABSTRACT
Textile industries (TIs) are one of the major sources of global economy in many developing countries, but unfortunately, they have severe effects on the environment and living beings. Textile industry wastewater (TIWW) is characterized by its dark colour, high pH, COD, BOD, TDS, TSS and TOC. It also has a variety of recalcitrant dyes, phthalates, phenols, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and heavy metals such as Pb, Cd, As, Cr, Zn and Ni. It causes serious threats to our precious water and soil ecologies. It also causes carcinogenic, mutagenic and allergenic threats to all forms of life as well as reduces seed germination and biomass production of plants. Therefore, TIWW requires adequate treatment before its final discharge into the water bodies for the safety of environment and public health. Thus, this chapter discusses in detail the knowledge about different textile processing steps, wastewater generation and its characteristics. It also deals with toxicity in the environment and living organisms, treatment methods, key issues, challenges and future perspectives.
