EFFECT OF IDOLS IMMERSION ON ANTHROPOGENIC INFLUENCED RITUAL PONDS WATER QUALITY AT HOLY CITY VARANASI

Many ponds of holy city Varanasi are polluted by anthropogenic activities. This is due to improper management of public and private sector. There is some religious importance of ponds in Varanasi. The concept is based on storing rain water in ponds and ful fills daily public water need. In Skandpuran (Kashi - khand) there is report for 88 Hrada (naturally developed) and man - made 62 Kunds (ponds). Ponds play major role to control pollution in holy river Ganga by sharing daily public activities. In the present i nvestigation, physicochemical parameters of five major ponds were studied. The important water parameters studied were pH, Total Dissolve Solid (TDS), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Dissolve Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand ( BOD), Chemical Oxygen Deman d (COD), Total Conductivity (TC), Total Hardness (TH), Total Alkalinity (TA), Chloride (Cl - ), Nitrate (NO 3 -- ), Sulphate (SO 4 -- ) Phosphate ( PO 4 --- ) and Total Microbial Population (TMP). The results suggested that selected physicochemical parameters were very high in value after idol immersion as compared to before idol immersion. Microbial results showed that water of ponds are pathogenic in nature. All five ponds were having negative report on water quality for idol immersion as per traditional literatur e scripts and guidelines of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), New Delhi, India