These are the guidelines issued by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board for environment friendly immersion of idols.

Ganesh Idols are immersed in water bodies. Such water bodies include rivers, lakes, ponds, estuaries, open coastal beaches, wells etc. Consequent pollution of such water bodies has been a matter of concern and there have been public interest litigations as well. In addition to silting, toxic chemicals used in making idols tend to leach out and pose serious problems of water pollution. Studies carried out to assess deterioration in water quality due to immersion of idols have revealed that water quality gets deterioration in respect of conductivity, bio-chemical oxygen demand and concentration of heavy metals.