How Dyeing Units Are Wrecking Delhi’s Water

Dyeing, Printing, Processing

How Dyeing Units Are Wrecking Delhi’s Water

Hundreds of illegal textile dyeing units across Delhi are quietly bleeding the city’s groundwater and dumping toxic waste into its drains, unchecked, unregulated and in plain sight. According to reports, each unit consumes between 200,000 and 500,000 litres of groundwater every single day, drawn through illegal borewells. Together, they are estimated to siphon off nearly 100 million litres of water daily - clean groundwater that Delhi can ill afford to lose.

These units operate outside the law, yet continue to function openly in residential and mixed-use areas such as Bindapur, Matiala, Khyala, Sarita Vihar and Seelampur. Because they cannot obtain legal water connections, operators rely entirely on illegal borewells, accelerating groundwater depletion in already water-stressed zones.

The environmental damage goes far beyond water theft. The textile dyeing industry is classified as a “red-category” industry, indicating severe pollution potential. Under Indian law, such operations require approvals under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and hazardous waste management rules. In reality, these safeguards are routinely ignored.

Chemical-laden wastewater from dyeing and washing processes is discharged without any treatment into stormwater drains. These drains eventually flow into the Yamuna, turning the river into a dumping ground for industrial effluents. The result is visible contamination of local drains, roads and open spaces, with coloured wastewater staining neighbourhoods long before it reaches the river.

In Seelampur, dozens of such units operate in full view. Fabrics dyed in deep blues, blacks and indigos are dried on rooftops, while untreated effluents flow below. Residents say local drains have become permanently polluted, emitting foul odours and staining streets. Despite repeated complaints, enforcement remains weak.

Various reports have surfaced about the spread of illegal dyeing units across the country, yet the problem has only deepened. The scale of daily water extraction and pollution suggests not isolated violations, but a systemic failure of oversight.

As Delhi struggles with falling groundwater levels and a dying river, these illegal dyeing units represent a silent but relentless assault on the city’s water security and environment, one that continues not in the shadows, but in plain sight.

The environmental damage goes far beyond water theft. The textile dyeing industry is classified as a “red-category” industry, indicating severe pollution potential. Under Indian law, such operations require approvals under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and hazardous waste management rules. In reality, these safeguards are routinely ignored.

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