The study area located in the two leather industries namely Addis Ababa leather industryrnand ELICO-Awash Tannery. The Addis Ababa leather industry is located 18 km ofrnsouth-west of the Addis Ababa city, where as the ELICO-Awash tannery is located to thernSouthern part of the city. The two industries were located to the riversides and theirrnleather processing wastes joins to the water systems. High tannery waste disposal,rnchanneling residual water mixes to the water system.rnWater samples were collected from three sites of each leather industry for three days andrnfor three different times a day. Sample collection time was scheduled according to therndischarging time of the tannery process. The level of chromium species (Cr(III) andrnCr(VI)) were determined using two analytical methods. Total chromium concentration ofrnthe water samples were determined by FAAS. The concentration of total chromiumrnvaries significantly at the three different site of each of the two leather industries. Therernwas high concentration of chromium at the discharge point of Addis Ababa leatherrnindustry than that of the Awash tannery. The same trends were also observed for the restrnof the sites. The level of chromium was also not the same when the result of the samplesrncollected at different time was observed.rnThe amount of Cr(VI) in the down streams of the two leather industries ranges fromrn0.01ppm to 0.15 ppm, which was not above the permissible level that is allowed to thernnatural wate