TAINTED FLOW

Panipat shows an overreliance on groundwater even as residents remain wary of its contamination due to untreated discharge of textile recycling wastewater

- PINKI CHAHAL, SANTOSH KUMAR AND DURAIRAJ KUMARASAMY

IN THE last week of August, Haryana’s pollution control and water authorities told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that they have shut down 30 illegal cloth bleaching units in Panipat district and cut off their groundwater access.

This action came after a May 2025 ruling by NGT that took suo motu cognisance of news reports on how illegal cloth units spring up on Panipat’s agricultural lands and pollute the air and water.

This is not the first, nor only time environmental pollution in Panipat has raised concerns, nor is the problem confined to illegal cloth units. Historically a hub for handloom and textile production, Panipat is now a global centre for textile recycling, processing over 0.1 million tonnes of garments a year, according to estimates.

The process, which includes dyeing and bleaching of the cloth fibres, generates a huge quantity of wastewater and effluents. In Panipat, 405 industries discharge 98.8 million litres a day (MLD) of wastewater, says the district’s 2023 environment plan. While 73.9 MLD are treated, the remaining flows openly through the city’s drains and eventually into the Yamuna, which flows through the district.