Image a world with brightly colored waters blossoming from overflow pipes into streams, rivers, and lakes, the color of the water changing day-to-day. Monday, violent red; Tuesday, cobalt blue; Wednesday, grass green… The multicolored spectacle would surely cause you to ponder the true state of these transpirings and what, precisely, might be their source. Could it be a natural occurrence resulting from algal blooms or bacteria in the water source? Or possibly a sedimentary dislodge from a monstrous weather event?
Now, though, you might be wondering whether this could be an Earthly phenomenon. The answer to your question is an unfortunate “yes.”
Textile Dyes’ Impact on Global Water Supplies
We all wear clothing, whether it be designer, second-hand, or homemade- and many of use (I can surmise) neglect to note the effects our garments have on the environment of their place of production. Whereas privately-produced garments derived from natural pigment sources may be of least concern to the world’s water resource, those that are commercially-manufactured provide a significant base for water perturbations in the realm of conservation. Chemical and Engineering News author Alex Scott quotes the World Bank’s figure on the percentage of global water pollution traceable to the textile industry in his article “Cutting Out Textile Pollution,” a staggering twenty percent. This weighty value not only illustrates the true impact the clothing we wear imparts on our most valuable resource, but also sheds light on the role synthetic chemicals and dyes play in the environment once they are introduced to the water supply.
The very same Chemical and Engineering News article detailed that more than eight thousand chemicals are utilized in the dying of the the world’s fabric. These chemicals are blended with vast amounts of water to produce the clothing we wear each day. A technical paper titled “Textile Dyes: Dyeing Process and Environmental Impacts” published by joint Brazilian Universities enumerates the environmental impacts of synthetic dyes on bacterial and mammalian life, with gastrointestinal distress and DNA damage exemplify some of the most serious effects of ingesting the selected chemical compounds. Other finishing chemicals utilized in the production process inhibit biological life once released into the environment by blocking the filtration of light through water, thereby stifling photosynthesis.
Although the chemicals used in the aforementioned production seem detached from human use, they, in truth, pack a punch when associated with the quantities of water in which they are dissolved. Earlier, when I claimed that vast amounts of water were used to dye clothing, I truly meant vast: one thousand eight hundred gallons of water are required to dye a single pair of jeans while seven hundred gallons are needed to dye a tee shirt (Alex Scott, “Cutting Out Textile Pollution“). Multiply these values by the number of garments churned out in a single batch, then by the number of batches kicked out in a month, then by twelve. Eventually, one would be able to account for the impairment of one-fifth of the world’s water after considering all of the garment forms that produced and consumed by the human populous.
The primary sources of more massive water dumping are developing countries; China and India have, for the majority of the twenty-first century, remained in the top tier for textile-based pollution. A study completed by the Gandhigram Rural Institute-Deemed University of Tamilnadu, India on the water quality of the textile town Chinnalapatti in the Dindigul district of Tamilnadu, India found that 68.75% of the water within the area was unsuitable for drinking due to the high levels of total dissolved solids found in the ground water supply. Similar situations are paralleled in other regions of India and China that participate heavily in the textile industry, but many of these cases go unnoticed and unseen by the public eye.
More Personal Impacts
Clearly, the implications of this industry on the global water supply are of major issue, but those which it imparts on smaller global communities are equally magnificent. The developing regions in which textile production presides as the major industry are bound within its grasps; they cannot escape the impoverished conditions created by their occupations or the negative environmental conditions they create. Within many of the affected regions, the pollution of local ecosystems and water supplies makes it unhealthful (and sometimes impossible) for inhabitants to farm adjacent lands. This inability to forge subsistence beyond the textile industry causes those who dwell within the bounds of such textile cities proliferates poverty and illness within the regions’ peoples, giving them little or no other means of survival if (and when) new, eco-friendly means of textile production were to replace the antiquated, pollutant-producing methods still used today.
First of all, I really liked the vivid picture that you paint in your introduction, it is a great lead into the overall focus of your blog post. Good job with the different sections and various types of headers that you used in order to change topics as well. I am just sort of confused on how all the water in the world is not polluted yet if 1/5 of the Earth’s water is polluted by garment dying. I also think that it is sad how little drinking water these countries that produce many textiles have; yet, there is really nothing I do about it because I like to buy cheap clothes or brand name clothes. Often times, higher end clothes are still made in other countries such as Vietnam or China, but I seem to be unable to refrain from purchasing them. Maybe there should be a worldwide effort to help end this.
This blog really made me think. When I first saw the title of the blog, I was super intimidated and worried that I would not be able to understand any of it. However, that was truly not the case. You wrote this blog in a way that was professional yet easy to understand for a person who doesn’t know much (or anything) about Chromatic Pollutants. I did not realize how much water we used just by making clothes! The numbers were astonishing to me. I also really like how you added a chart to show what each fabric uses when they are being made. Terrific job!
I can honestly say I have never thought about my clothes in this way before. I did not realize the impact of what we wear each day has on our environment. I definitely will not take this for granted anymore and start to second guess my clothing options. You are truly passionate about this issue and it is evident in your tone and writing style. I really enjoyed reading your blog and I cant wait to see what you write about in the future! Great job!