Paper Titles in Periodical
International Letters of Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy
Volume 39
Subscribe

Subscribe to our Newsletter and get informed about new publication regulary and special discounts for subscribers!

ILCPA > Volume 39 > Effects of Idol Immersion on the Water Quality...
Effects of Idol Immersion on the Water Quality Parameters of Indian Water Bodies: Environmental Health Perspectives
< Back to Volume

Effects of Idol Immersion on the Water Quality Parameters of Indian Water Bodies: Environmental Health Perspectives

Full Text PDF

Abstract:

India is a rich cultural country in which diverse cultural and religious festivals are organized. Idol is an image of a god which is used as an object of worship. After worshipped, these idols are immersed into water bodies. Idols are constructed by plaster of paris, clay, cloths, small iron rods, bamboo and decorated with different paints such as varnish, water colors etc. which can lead to significant alteration in the water quality after immersion. Paints which are used to colour these idols contains various heavy metals such as Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic, Zinc, Chromium and Lead. Particularly, red, blue, orange and green colours contain mercury, zinc oxide, chromium and lead, which are potent carcinogens. Two heavy metals such as Lead and Chromium also add in the water bodies through Sindoor (a traditional red colored cosmetic powder, usually worn by married women and often used in the festivals). The floating materials released through idol in the river and lake after decomposition result in eutrophication, increase in acidity and heavy metal concentration. Heavy metal pollution caused by idol immersion can damage the ecosystem as it kills fishes, damages plants, blocks the natural flow of the water, causing stagnation. The effects of idol immersion on various water bodies of India like Bhoj wetland, Budhabalanga river, Ganges river, Hussainsagar lake, Kolar river, Sarayu river, Tapi river, Chhatri lake, north and west lakes of Bangalore and Yamuna river have been observed so far. Investigations were carried out to find out the effects of immersion of idols on water quality by collecting and analyzing the water samples from the immersion sites of the rivers. The samplings were done before the immersion, on the day of immersion and after the event and several parameters like Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen, BOD, Dissolved CO2, Conductivity, Salinity, Alkalinity, TDS, Total Hardness, Chlorides etc. are estimated. Most of the studies found significant changes in the water quality parameters during and after immersions. Central Pollution Control Board has formulated guidelines on the practice of idol immersion in water bodies, which should be followed for controlling pollution

Info:

Periodical:
International Letters of Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy (Volume 39)
Pages:
234-263
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILCPA.39.234
Citation:
S. Bhattacharya et al., "Effects of Idol Immersion on the Water Quality Parameters of Indian Water Bodies: Environmental Health Perspectives", International Letters of Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy, Vol. 39, pp. 234-263, 2014
Online since:
October 2014
Authors:
Sayan Bhattacharya, Arpita Bera, Abhishek Dutta, Uday Chand Ghosh
Keywords:
Dirt of Waters, India, Quality of Water, Rivers
Export:
RIS, BibTeX, Text
Distribution:
Open Access

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References:

Idol. Accessed on 29/5/2014, accessed from http: /dictionary. reference. com/browse/idol.

Reddy V.M., Kumar V.A. Effect of ganesh idol immersion on some water quality parameter of Hussain Sagar. Current Science, 1412-1413.

Dhote S., Varghese B., Mishra S.M. 2001. Impact of idol immersion on water quality of twin lakes of Bhopal. Indian Journal of Environment Protection 21, pp.998-1005.

Bhat N.A., Wanganeo R., Wanganeo A. 2012. Pollution Status of Bhoj Wetland before and after Immersion of Idols. 5(1), 154-156.

The times of india. Idols' immersion adds to Ganga's pollution. Accessed on 30/05/2014, accessed from http: /timesofindia. indiatimes. com/city/patna/Idols-immersion-adds-toGangas-pollution/articleshow/16964313. cms.

Bibicz, M. 1982. Heavy metal in the aquatic environment of some water bodies of the Lublin basin, Actuatic Hydrobiology, 24, 125-138.

Handy R.D. 1993. The accumulation of dietary aluminium by rainbow trout oncorhynchus mykiss at high exposure concentrations. Journal of Fish Biology 42(4), 603-606.

Leland, H.V. 1991. Transport and distribution of trace elements in a watershed ecosystem in environment. Boggess, W.R., and Wixsion, B.G. Eds. Castle House Publication, pp.105-134.

Gupta, P. and N. Srivastava. 2006 Effects of sub- lethal concentrations of zinc on histological changes and bioaccumulation of zinc by kidney of fish Channa punctatus (Bloch). J. Environ. Biol., 27, 211-215.

Singh S.P., Pathak D. and Singh R. 2002. Hydrobiological studies of two ponds of Satna (MP), India, Eco. Evn. And Cons., 8(3), 289-292.

Ecoeist. Water pollution caused by toxic chemical paints. Accessed on 28/05/2014, accessed from http: /e-coexist. com/products/ganesh-chaturthi/ganesh-2010/waterpollution-caused-by-toxic-chemical-paints.

Natural resources defence council. Accessed on 30/05/2014, accessed from http: /www. nrdc. org/health/effects/mercury/effects. asp.

Cadmium & its adverse effects on human health. Accessed on 30/05/2014, accessed from http: /www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/19106447.

The encyclopaedia of earth. Accessed on 30/05/2014, accessed from http: /www. eoearth. org/view/article/153344.

Lenntech. Accessedon30/05/2014, accessed from http: / www. lenntech. com/ periodic /elements/as. htm.

Bhattacharya, S., Gupta, K., Debnath, S., Ghosh, U.C., Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay, Aniruddha Mukhopadhyay, Toxicolology and Environmental Chemistry 94(3) (2012) 429-441.

The effect of too much Zinc. Accessed on 31/05/2014, accessed from http: /www. livestrong. com/article/29333-effects-much-zinc.

Health Effects of Lead Exposure. Accessed on 01/06/2014, accessed from https: /public. health. oregon. gov/HealthyEnvironments/HealthyNeighborhoods/LeadPois oning/MedicalProvidersLaboratories/Documents/introhealtheffectsmedicalprovider. pdf.

Lenntech. Accessed on 01/06/2014, accessed from http: /www. lenntech. com/periodic /elements/pb. htm.

Bajpai A., Pani S., Jain R.K., Mishra S.M. 2003. Heavy metal concentration through idol immersion in a tropical lake, Eco. Env. And Cons., 8(2), 157-159.

Ujjain N.C., Azhar A.M. 2011. Impact of Ganesh Idol Immersion Activities on the Water Quality of Tapi River, Surat (Gujarat) India, Research Journal of Biology, 01(01), 11-15.

Sarayu. Accessed on 02/06/2014, accessed from http: /en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sarayu.

Shahenshah, Bhat, M.M., Andrabi, A. Z. S, Shukla, S. 2011. Effect of Idol Immersions on some Water Quality Parameters of Saryu River. European Journal of Experimental Biology, 1(3), 97-100.

Vyas A., Bajpai A., Verma N. Environ. Monit. Assess. 145 (2008) 437-443.

Peter W.P., William A.W., Aquaculture 172 (1999) 275-280.

APHA, Standard methods for the examination of water and waste water. 21st edition. American Public Health Association DC, USA, (2005).

ICMR, Manual of standards of quality for drinking water supplies. Special report series No. 44, 2nd edition, (1975).

Hostetti B.B., Kul Karni A.R., Patil H.S., India Journal Environmental Health 36(2) (1994) 124-127.

Dhamaji S.K., Jain Y., Pollution Research 14(3) (1995) 341-346.

Bhat M.M., Yazdani T., Narain K., Yunus M., Shukla R.N. 2009. Journal of Wetlands Ecology, 2, 67-73.

Sen I., Shandil A., Shrivastava V.S., Adv. Appl. Sci. Res. 2(2) (2011) 161-166.

Kolar River (Maharashtra). Accessed on 03/06/2014, accessed from http: /en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Kolar_River(Maharashtra).

Shukla S.S. 2004. Effect of public awareness campaign in mitigating impact of religious activities on Bhopal lakes, Abstract in image of water in religion, myths, literature, Switzerland, Global Biodiversity Forum, 17(2).

Gupta A.K., Mishra K., Pramod Kumar, Singh C.S. and Srivastava S. 2011. Impact of religious activities on the water characteristics of prominent ponds at Varanasi (UP) India, Plant Archives, 11(1), 297-300.

Watkar A.M., Barbate M.P. 2014. Impact of Idol Immersion on Water Quality of Kolar River in Saoner, Dist. Nagpur, India. International Research Journal of Environment Sciences. 3(3), 39-42.

Trivedy P.K. and Goel R.K. 1986. Chemical and Biological methods water pollution studies, Environmental publication Karad India.

Das K.K., Panigrahi.T., Panda R.B. 2012. Idol Immersion Activities Cause Heavy Metal Contamination in River Budhabalanga, Balasore, Odisha, India. International Journal of Modern Engineering Research, 2(6), 4540-4542.

Ganges. accessed on 03/06/2014, accessed from http: /en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Ganges.

^ a b kalpana 1 April 2007 (1 April 2007). Ganga is dying, pollution the killer,. Greendiary. com. Retrieved 4 July (2012).

^ a b Gardner, Gary, Engaging Religion in the Quest for a Sustainable World", in Bright, Chris, et al, State of the World: 2003, W. W. Norton & Company. Pp. 256, pp.152-176.

^ a b c d Clean Up Or Perish, The Times of India, 19 March (2010).

Sarkar R. 2013. Study on the impact of idol immersion on water quality of river ganga at Ranighat, Chandernagore (W.B. ). International Journal of Geology, Earth & Environmental Sciences. 3(3), 24-29.

Jhingran A.G. 1977. Optical appearance and interpretation of annuli on scales of Gadusia chapra (Ham. ). Journal of the Inland Fisheries Society of India 9, 138-153.

Hussain Sagar. Acceseed on 04/06/2014, accessed from http: /en. wikipedia. org/wiki/ HussainSagar.

APHA, AWWA, and WPCP, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Waste Water, American Public Health Association, Washington D.C., 1985, 16th edn, p.1268.

Shirbhate, Nayana S., Malode S.N., Wadankar G.D., Shelke P.B. International Journal of Innovations in Bio-Sciences 2(1) (2012) 51-54.

Yamuna. Accessed on 04/06/2014, accessed from http: /en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Yamuna.

Kaur B.J., George. M.P., Mishra S. 2013. Water quality assessment of river Yamuna in Delhi stretch during Idol immersion. International Journal of Environmental Sciences. 3(6), 2122-2130.

CPCB Report, (2006), Water quality status of Yamuna river http: /www. cpcb. nic. in/ newitems/11. pdf, accessed on 15th March, (2012).

Mishra A.K. 2010. A river about to Die: Yamuna, Journal of water resource and protection, 2, 489-500.

Goel V and Grad IE, Quantitative Study on Microbial Pollution of River Yamuna at Delhi, http: /gangapedia. iitk. ac. in/sites/default/files/Quantitative%20Study%20on%20 Microbial%20Pollution%20of%20River%20Yamuna%20at%20Delhi. pdf , accessed on 10th March, (2012).

Kaur R., Advances in Applied Science Research 3(4) (2012) 1905-(1909).

Sripathy L., Raju M.H., Renuka C., Thuppil V. International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology 1(1) (2012) 113-120.

Vyas A., Mishra D. D., Bajpai A., Dixit S., Verma N., Asian J. Exp. Sci. 20(2) (2006) 289-296.

Pani S. and Mishra S.M. 2000. Impact of hydraulic detention on water quality Characteristics of a tropical wetland (Lower Lake) Environmental pollution and its management. Pankaj Shrivastava, Ed. ABS Publication, New Delhi, p.286.

Varughese B., Dhote S., Pani S. and Mishra S.M. (2004) : Impact of artificial aeration and ozonization on pathogenic bacteria of a tropical sewage fed lake, Poll. Res., 23(1), pp.199-203.

WHO (1968): World Health Organization Tech. Report Sr. No. 406. Vyas A. et al. (2006) Asian J. Exp. Sci. 20(2), 289-296.

ISI. (1991): Indian Standard Specification for drinking water, IS 10500. ISI, New Delhi.

Vyas A., Bajpai A., Verma N., Dixit S., J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manage. 11(4) (2007) 37-39.

Anonymous. Ganesh Idol Immersion Peaceful in City. Times of India, 23 September, (2010).

Ujjania N.C., Mistry C.A. 2012. Environmental impact of idol immersion on Tapi river (India). International Journal of Geology, Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2(3), 11-16.

Desai J., Tank S.K., Journal of Environmental Research And Development 4(4) (2010) 999-1007.

SMC: The Surat Municipal corporation, Ganesh Utsav Samiti, (2008).

CPCB, Guidelines for Idol Immersion, 2006. Accessed from http: /www. cpcb. nic. in/upload/NewItems/NewItem_159_Guideline_for_Idol_Imersion. pdf, accessed on 20th March, (2012).

Show More Hide
Cited By:

[1] S. Dwivedi, S. Mishra, R. Tripathi, "Ganga water pollution: A potential health threat to inhabitants of Ganga basin", Environment International, Vol. 117, p. 327, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.05.015