photosynthesis by blocking sunlight and is therefore
deleterious to aquatic life (FitzGibbon et al., 1998). Studies
on water quality of a river contaminated with distillery
effluent displayed high BOD values of 1600–21,000 mg/l
within a 8km radius (Baruah et al., 1993). Adequate
treatment is therefore imperative before the effluent is
discharged. In addition to pollution, increasingly stringent
environmental regulations are forcing distilleries to improve
existing treatment and also explore alternative
methods of effluent management. For instance, Indian
distilleries were stipulated to achieve zero discharge of
spentwash to inland surface water by December 2005
(Uppal, 2004).