High processing costs and escalating environmental dangers caused india's cotton fabric finishers to adjust their processing parameters to minimize effluent loads and still anintanin quality dyeing. Their efforts focused on balancing the quantity of water needed to achieve certain saturated shades in vat dyeing versus the quantity of water needed to prevent the too-rapid decomposition of dyes in the dyebath. As a result of a series of investingations, the "follow-on" technique of reusing a dyebath was implemented at dyehouses throughtout the country. Negative results from chemical substitutions in the vat dyebaths led researchers to strudy the effect of partial substitution on effluent load. Additionally, nonaqueous dye applications, such as pad-batch, spray, and foam dyeing, were pursued as ameans of reducing harmful wastewater. The brute-force separation of hard wastes (radicals, dye chromophores, toxic heavy metals) from wastewater was rejected as too expensive. 4 refs.