Impact of Mass Bathing on Water Quality

One of the sacred water tank Brahmsarovar, at Kurukshetra in India was studied to assess the impact of mass bathing during new moon day (called as Amavasya in India) in terms of physico-chemical and biological characteristics. Overall water quality index was calculated using online calculator. Results have revealed significant (P<0.05) increase in organic pollution indicating parameters viz. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), total solids, chlorides, alkalinity and decline in dissolved oxygen (DO) which may be attributed to organic, domestic waste , their microbial decomposition , addition of soaps ,detergents and their absorption by aquatic flora. A sharp and significant increase in ammonia concentration was also observed which is again due to high organic matter of animal origin. No significant variation in plankton population was observed, however, numerical value of species diversity index showed a decrease indicating the elimination of sensitive taxa. Since the conditions are not beyond the limit so proper legislative efforts to disinfect the water regularly and to educate the pilgrims can improve it. Since fish netting is banned in such holy tanks so it is recommended to use it for the conservation of wild stocks of important fish species

Keywords
Mass bathing, Amavasya, Water quality, Solar eclipse, Dissolved oxygen, Species diversity index