Since ages, water has been aptly described as 'elixir of life'. It is an important key to sustainable development. The European Union's Water Framework Directive makes this bold statement at the outset: "Water is not a commercial product like many other, but a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such". It is the function of water works to provide and ensure safe as well as adequate quantity of water supplies for the populace. Consumer satisfaction is important which is not mentioned even in the quality standards for potable water.Kolar Reservoir and Upper Lake, the two primary water bodies in or around the city of Bhopal, often had adverse consumer reactions because of variationsin the characteristics of water supplied rather than from specific permissible limits of physico-chemical characteristics. The social relevance of the problem had been instrumental for this study. Since mid-nineties there had been a gradual surge in immersion of idols into Upper Lakeafter culmination of various religious activities. This continued unabated for almost twenty years till Civic Authority shifted the immersion site and stopped idol immersion to a large extent.