The festival of ‘Holi’ is proving to be an environmental risk due to the toxic colors used during the celebrations. Unlimited and uncontrolled use of such dyes can lead to grave consequences in terms of human health and ecological balance. These colors are highly structured polymers and are very difficult to decompose biologically. This study was taken up with an initiative to determine the extent of effects that the ‘Holi’ colors have on water and soil, respectively. The bacteria inhabiting these contaminated water and soil samples were isolated for biochemical analyses.