Classification and impact of synthetic textile dyes on Aquatic Flora: A review

Abstract The contamination of the aquatic environment is becoming a serious problem. Dyes are considered as micropollutants and visible in aquatic environment at very low concentrations as 1 mg L−1. These are utilized in many application areas like textile, paper, printing and tannery industries etc. The dye used in textile industries contaminate aquatic habitat and show potential toxicity towards aquatic organisms, which may enter the food chain. The present review discusses the impact of textile dyes on water bodies, aquatic microalgae and macrophytes. It also discusses the different classes of dye which are classifying according to their solubility in water. These dyes are acidic, basic, direct, disperse, vat, sulfur and pigments. These dyes do not tightly bind to the fabric; its discharge as an effluent in aquatic environment could vary from 2% for basic dyes to as high as 50% for reactive dyes. Due to the unawareness and continuous discharge of textile dyes without prior treatment into the environment and their persistence constitutively increasing the risk of the aquatic flora and decrease the quality of water like eutrophication, odor, color and turbidity and the long-term hazard like accumulation of carcinogenic products, Persistence and production of by-products. It also causes carcinogenicity and mutagenicity.