Tanneries in Ambur, Vaniambadi, Pernambut, Ranipet and Walajapet are clustered on the banks of the Palar River. This is the primary source of drinking water for the residents of Vellore district. Reports have shown that the soil and ground water of these places are heavily contaminated with salts and heavy metals especially Chromium. The water quality parameters in the area are found to be above the W HO permissible limits (0.05 mg/L). Based on the basic survey on tanneries and its pollution in the Vellore District, our studies focused on bio-remediation of tannery effluents, which is the main source of contamination. As our basic study is to improve our understanding to find the Cr contamination level and the ecology of heavy metal tolerance of the native bacterial flora of our study area, Chromium resistant strains were isolated from contaminated water and sediments of various tanneries. This study reports the chromium contamination and the chromium resistant bacterial populations in the Vellore District in relation to seasonal variations. © Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2010.