Lakshmi is a goddess born of water and she is often pictured in holy waters and it is part of her worship to be bathed in sacred water. She is not the only goddess or god to be honored that way.
It is the Hindu tradition to perform holy rituals and rites in a sacred river, The Ganges. The guardian of this river is Ma Ganga and she and other deities are worshipped on sacred occasions. The river is believed to purify sins and bring forgiveness. When the Ganges is far away, the worship is done in other bodies of water. If the custom in the homeland is to immerse icons in water and leave them there. The sacred water is the only place powerful enough to contain the power of the gods and goddesses after worship.
Devotees in Queens found a workaround by performing rituals, known as Ganga puja (worship to the waters), in Jamaica Bay, which stretches between Queens and Brooklyn. In former times, icons were made of clay and could be melted and broken down in the water. Now statues are made of many substances, like resin, plastic, and brass, and in the waters of Queens, they turned into litter. And because they were left in the water, the statues would be damaged and abandoned.
Sacred Waters: A Collection of Hindu Offerings from Jamaica Bay, was a 2014 exhibit at the Queens Museum as part of the Museum's Community Partnership Exhibition Program. "The items on display were discovered through Project Prithvi, Sadhana's green initiative which aims to promote environmental justice while preserving the Hindu tradition of Ganga puja (worship to the waters)," says the museum website. "Through a partnership with the National Parks Service, Sadhana conducts monthly cleanups at Jamaica Bay in Queens, NY, engaging the local Hindu population in seva (selfless service) and advocacy."